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O’ZBЕKISTON RЕSPUBLIKASI
OLIY VA O’RTA MAXSUS TA'LIM VAZIRLIGI
ZAXIRIDDIN MUXAMMAD BOBUR
NOMIDAGI
ANDIJON DAVLAT UNIVЕRSITЕTI
Xorijiy tillar fakultеti
Ingliz tili fonеtikasi va lеksikasi kafеdrasi
“Qisqa satrlardagi yangiliklar gazeta uslubining bir turi sifatida”
mavzusidagi
B I T I R U V M A L A K A V I Y ISHI
Bajardi: “Ingliz tili va adabiyoti”
ta'lim yo’nalishi bitiruvchi
4-kurs 411-guruh
talabasi Mirzakarimov Jasurbek
_____________________
ILMIY RAXBAR:
Assistent: Z.N.Jurayev
______________________________
Bitiruv malakaviy ishi kafеdradan dastlabki himoyadan o’tdi.
_____________sonli bayonnomasi “_______” __________ 2014 yil
Andijon – 2014 y
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THE MINISTRY OF HIGHER AND SPECIALIZED EDUCATION
OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
ANDIZHAN STATE UNIVERSITY
NAMED AFTER ZAKHIRIDDIN MUKHAMMAD BABUR
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH PHONETICS AND LEXICOLOGY
“Brief news items as a substyle of the newspaper style”
QUALIFICATION GRADUATING PAPER
Compiled by: Mirzakarimov Jasurbek
Group: 411
________________
Supervisor: Assistant Z.N.Jurayev
_____________
The qualification graduating paper has been passed for the first defense in
the department, according to the official information № ___ “____” ________2014
Andizhan – 2014
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Introduction
Our state will attract on a broad – scale the experience of advanced countries in training
specialists and establishing conditions for high – quality education in itself. As our president
I.A.Karimov suggested personal readiness to work for one’s own benefit and for the benefit of
one’s family makes up the inner potential of the individual. Large – scale socio – economic plans
grew from our people’s love for life. The pride of our citizens for their independent state feed
their citizens for their readiness to personally contribute to its strengthening and prosperity. Only
thus can a citizen become the backbone of the state.
There exists a system of people’s education in Uzbekistan. “The Law about People’s
Education” accepted by Uzbekistan Government in 1974 consolidated the main principles of
people’s education in the republic: the equal rights for all citizens in getting education regardless
of racial and national belonging, sex, religion, property and social status; a universal compulsory
education for children and teen-agers; freedom of choice of the language for learning and free of
charge education; upkeep of some part of pupils and students; the unity of the system of the
people’s education and all types of educational institutions which grants the possibility of
transition from lower grades to higher ones; scientific character of education; its constant
perfection on the basis of the latest achievement of science, techniques, and culture.
It is hard to understand and justify a specialist, especially one holding a high post, who is
unable to choose fine and appropriate words to express his idea, concisely and precisely, in his
mother tongue. In our recent past, in most cases the Russian language but not mother tongue
served as mediator in the study of foreign languages. That is why, in particular, until the present,
English-Uzbek and Uzbek-English dictionaries had been available. [1. 16]
That is why it is necessary to improve the current situation, to provide Uzbek children
with all the necessary conditions for the access to this amazing world of foreign languages.
It's becoming clear that the acquired profession and preparation of graduate students
and secondary graduates don't answer the requirements of the market economy. We didn't work
out the state standards in the educational field on the basis of the international norms and models
and in Conformity with it, we didn't provide institutions and schools with modern equipment,
didn't create the proper material basis, and the reason is that education programs remained
obsolete, they exercise a negative influence on the quality of prepared specialists for today.
On December 10, 2012 President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov signed a
decree “On measures to further improve foreign language learning system”.
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It is noted that in the framework of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On
education" and the National Programme for Training in the country, a comprehensive foreign
languages’ teaching system, aimed at creating harmoniously developed, highly educated,
modern-thinking young generation, further integration of the country to the world community,
has been created. During the years of independence, over 51.7 thousand teachers of foreign
languages graduated from universities, English, German and French multimedia tutorials and
textbooks for 5-9 grades of secondary schools, electronic resources for learning English in
primary schools were created, more than 5000 secondary schools, professional colleges and
academic lyceums were equipped with language laboratories.
However, analysis of the current system of organizing language learning shows that
learning standards, curricula and textbooks do not fully meet the current requirements,
particularly in the use of advanced information and media technologies. Education is mainly
conducted in traditional methods. Further development of a continuum of foreign languages
learning at all levels of education; improving skills of teachers and provision of modern teaching
materials are required. [1. 17]
According to the decree, starting from 2013/2014 school year foreign languages, mainly
English, gradually throughout the country will be taught from the first year of schooling in the
form form of lesson-games and speaking games, continuing to learning the alphabet, reading and
spelling in the second year (grade).
Also it is envisaged that university modules, especially in technical and international
areas, will be offered in English and other foreign languages at higher education institutions.
The State Testing Centre, along with other relevant agencies, is tasked with preparing
draft proposals on introducing foreign languages testing to the entrance examinations for all
higher educational institutions.
In order to increase teaching standarts in distant rural areas, the higher educational
institutions are allowed targeted admission of people living in distant areas to foreign language
programs on the condition that they will oblige themselves to work in the acquired specialty at
their residence area for at least 5 years after graduation. The decree also envisages 30% salary
increase for foreign language teachers in rural areas, 15% increase for those in other areas.
The National Teleradio Company, State Committee for communications, informatisation
and telecommunication technologies, Agency for Press and Information of the Republic of
Uzbekistan are tasked to prepare and broadcast language-learning programs, significantly
increase access to international educational resources via “Ziyonet” educational network,
promote publication of foreign language textbooks, magazines and other materials.
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Special attention must be given to education, literature, art and others. Education provides
creative inspiration for the spirituality of the people of Uzbekistan. It helps us discover the best
abilities of the up and coming generation, while continuously improving the skills of
professionals. Education helps elucidate and pass down the wisdom and experiences of the older
generation to the younger. Young people, with their budding talents and thirst for knowledge
begin to understand spirituality through education. [2. 15]
In the process of realizing reform in the institutions of higher education, we must pay
attention to some faults, proceeding from:
1) We must determine what requirements graduate students should answer.
2) We must select talented children, who are thirsty for knowledge and consider that their
main aim is mastering knowledge; set an equitable system and
order of entrance to the
institutions of higher education; to create all necessary conditions for getting enough
knowledge by students.
3) It
is
necessary
to
determine
what
professions
are
most
important to prepare for in higher education institutions. Specifically, it should be determined
which of the 90-100 acquired professions we need most of all, and which of them we need less
and also new professions according to the new times.
The national order for necessary specializations should be set.
At present according to the national order, it is fixed to accept 21,000 students in higher
educational institutions. At this point, it's important to think out of the number of national grants
and the branches these grants are distributed to. It's also important to define more precisely the
intentions of those who are going to receive the knowledge and specialty on the basis of the
contract, in other words, at their expense.
1) Once we intend to prepare specialists corresponding to the modern requirements we
must modernize the uniform, appearance, structure and financial base of our educational
institutions, as well as providing a salary to their instructors, teachers and professors.
2) Our education programmer must be brought in correspondence with the modern
requirements and established in accordance with our future. In this case, the weak points of our
educational programmer should be taken into consideration.
For example, such weak points of young specialists and recent graduates as their lack of ability
to organize work, little experience in administrative activity, as well as lack of knowledge in
marketing and management, social psychology and sociology, require particular attention.
In the process of higher school reformation, we must consolidate their contacts with
higher educational institutions in other countries. It's necessary to promote the encouragement of
foreign teachers in Uzbekistan. It would be expedient to organize the education of our graduate
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students in the educational canters of developed countries without interference of any ideology.
[2. 18]
While reading a book, one should know the subjects as stylistics, phonetics, grammar,
and lexicology because these subjects are very necessary in obtaining the foreign language. We
analyzed one of the most important among them is stylistics because in this subject we can learn
different types of styles and the words by their usage. The theme of our qualification paper is
“Brief news items as a substyle of the newspaper style”
The actuality of the theme is that functional styles, types of functional styles, newspaper
style were investigated a lot before but the substyles of newspaper style, especially the brief
news items is still disputable. We think that the theme brief news items as a substyle of the
newspaper style need the further investigation.
The main aim of our qualification paper is to give information about newspaper style as
a functional style of the English language, substyles of newspaper style, the role of newspaper
style in a functional style, brief news items as a substyle of the newspaper style, the function of a
brief news items and the specific vocabulary features of a brief news items.
The main aim of our research puts forward the following tasks to fulfill:
- Newspaper style as a functional style of the English language
- Substyles of newspaper style
- The role of newspaper style in a functional style
- Brief news items as a substyle of the newspaper style
- The function of a brief news items
- Specific vocabulary features of a brief news items
The main material of given qualification paper is taken from different books on
theoretical and practical lexicology and stylistics Stylistics by Galperin I.R., Ingliz tili stilistikasi
by Bobokhonova L.T., Seminars in Style by Kukharenko V.A., An Essay in Stylistic analyses by
Galperin I.R., English stylistics by Musaev Q. Besides above mentioned literatures I took
information from Internet, Word Book Encyclopedia.
The theoretical value of the present course paper is that the theoretical part of the work
can be used in delivering lectures and seminars on stylistics.
The practical value of the present qualification paper is that the practical results gained
by investigating the giving problem may be used as examples or mini-tests in seminars and
practical lessons of English Stylistics.
The objects of analysis of the graduation paper are functional styles, especially
newspaper style and brief news items.
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The scientific novelty of our research work is to investigate about brief news items as a
substyle of the newspaper style, the function of a brief news items and the specific vocabulary
features of a brief news items.
The methods of analysis of graduation paper are transformational and descriptive
methods.
The sphere of usage of the results of graduation paper is extensive used in the process
of teaching English learning students at Universities, as well as how to motivate students to learn
functional styles, newspaper style, especially brief news items.
Structurally the present research work consists of – Introduction, two chapters,
Conclusion, Methodological recommendation and Bibliography.
As we conclude part by part we can say followings:
In introductory part we’ll write about the education system, improving and advancing it,
paying attention to youth education and teaching students foreign languages, improving the
quality of education in our country and other issues. Besides of this information we’ll give the
actuality of the theme, the theoretical and practical value of the theme, the novelty of the theme,
the literature overview, the aim and tasks of the theme and the structure of our qualification
work.
In the first chapter we’ll give detailed information about newspaper style as a functional
style of the English language, substyles of newspaper style and the role of newspaper style in a
functional style. The general aim the newspaper is to exert influence on public opinion, to
convince the reader or listener that the interpretation given by writer or the speaker is the only
correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article
merely by logical argumentation, but by emotional appeal as well. It falls in two varieties: the
essay and the article.
English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical,
phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community speaking the
language as a separate unity that basically serves the purpose of informing and instructing the
reader.
In the next chapter we’ll investigate about brief news items as a substyle of the
newspaper style, the function of a brief news items and the specific vocabulary features of a brief
news items.
The principal function of a brief news items is to inform the reader. It states facts without
giving explicit comments, and whatever evaluation there is in news paragraphs is for the most
part implicit and as a rule unemotional. News items are essentially matter-of-fact, and
stereotyped forms of expression prevail. As an invariant, the language of brief news items is
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stylistically neutral, which seems to be in keeping with the allegedly neutral and unbiased nature
of newspaper reporting; in practice, however, departures from this principle of stylistic neutrality
(especially in the so-called "mass papers") are quite common.
In methodological recommendation we’ll give some advice in teaching brief news items at
schools, lyceums and colleges and in higher education.
In the end of our research work we’ll give a total conclusion about the qualification work
and the list of used literature.
We hope this research work will achieve to its purpose and its end. And I believe that in
future I will continue this theme on my further studies and research works.
Chapter I. Newspaper style as a functional style of the English language
Newspaper is a publication that appears regularly and frequently, and carries news about
a wide variety of current events. Organizations such as trade unions, religious groups,
corporations or clubs may have their own newspapers, but the term is more commonly used to
refer to daily or weekly publications that bring news of general interest to large portions of the
public in a specific geographic area.
General circulations newspapers play a role in commerce through the advertisements they
carry; they provide readers with information of practical value, such as television schedules
weather maps and listings of stock prices; and these newspapers provide a course of
entertainment through their stories and through such features as comic strips and crossword
puzzles. However one of the most important functions of the general- circulation newspaper (a
crucial function in a democracy) is to provide citizens with information on government and
politics.
The printing press was used to disseminate news in Europe shortly after Johann
Gutenberg invented the letter press, employing movable type in the 1450s. in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries thousands of printed news books short pamphlets reporting on a news
event ballads accounts of news events written in verse and usually printed on one side of a single
sheet of paper, circulated in Europe and in the new European colonies in America. The first news
report printed in the America described an earthquake in Guatemala and was printed in Mexico
in 1541.
The oldest surviving newspaper written in English appears to have been published in
Amsterdam in 1620 by Pieter van de Keere, a Dutch and print engraver who had lived in London
for a few years. [5. 162]
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According to the historian Joseph Frank along with their political coverage newspapers in
England in the 1640s, were among the first in the world to use headlines, to print advertisements,
to illustrate stories with woodcuts, to employ a woman _ «a she -intelligencer»_ to collect news
and to have newsboys, or more commonly newsgirls, sell papers in the streets. They are also
among the first newspapers to complete with news books and news ballads in coverage of
sensational events like bloody crimes.
Newspaper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized
as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms. English newspaper style dates
from the 17th century. Newspaper writing is addressed to a broad audience and devoted to
important social or political events, public problems of cultural or moral character. The first of
any regular series of English newspapers was the Weekly News which first appeared on May 20,
1622.
The 17th century saw the rise of a number of other news sheets which, with varying
success, struggled on in the teeth of discouragement and restrictions imposed by the Crown.
With the introduction of a strict licensing system many such sheets were suppressed, and the
Government, in its turn, set before the public a paper of its own - the London Gazette first
published on February 5, 1666. The paper was a semi - weekly and carried official information,
royal decrees, news from abroad, and advertisements.
The general aim the newspaper is to exert influence on public opinion, to convince the
reader or listener that the interpretation given by writer or the speaker is the only correct one and
to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article merely by
logical argumentation, but by emotional appeal as well. It falls in two varieties: the essay and the
article.
English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical,
phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community speaking the
language as a separate unity that basically serves the purpose of informing and instructing the
reader.
In order to ascertain the newspaper style it is necessary to go at some length into the
question of what is style.
The word style is derived from the Latin word 'stylus' which meant a short stick sharp at
one end and flat at the other used by the Romans for writing on wax tablets. [8. 148]
Now the word style is used in so many senses that it has become a breeding ground for
ambiguity. The word is applied to the teaching of how to write a composition; it is also used to
reveal the correspondence between thought and expression; it frequently denotes an individual
manner of making use of language; it sometimes refers to more general, abstract notions thus
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inevitably becoming vague and obscure, as, for example, "Style is the man himself", "Style is
depth"; "Style is deviations"; "Style is choice", and the like.
All these ideas directly or indirectly bear on issues in stylistics. Some of them become
very useful by revealing the springs which make our utterances emphatic, effective and goaldirected. It will therefore not come amiss to quote certain interesting observations regarding style
made by different writers from different angles. Some of these observations are dressed up as
epigrams or sententious maxims like the ones quoted above. Here are some more of them.
Style is a quality of language which communicates precisely emotions or thoughts, or a
system of emotions or thoughts, peculiar to the author.
"... a true idiosyncrasy of style is the result of an author's success in compelling language
to conform to his mode of experience."
"Style is a contextually restricted linguistic variation." Style is a selection of nondistinctive features of language. Style is simply synonymous with form or expression and hence
a superfluous term. Style is essentially a citation process, a body of formulae, a memory (almost
in the cybernetic sense of the word), a cultural and not an expressive inheritance.
Some linguists consider that the word 'style' and the subject of linguistic stylistics is
confined to the study of the effects of the message, its impact on the reader. Thus Michael
Riffaterre writes that "Stylistics will be linguistics of the effects of the message, of the output of
the act of communication, of its attention-compelling function". This point of view has clearly
been reached under the influence of recent developments in the general theory of information.
Language, being one of the means of communication or, to be exact, the most important means
of communication, is regarded in the above quotation from a pragmatic point of view.
Stylistics in that case is regarded as a language science which deals with the results of the
act of communication.
To a very considerable degree this is true. Stylistics must take into consideration the
"output of the act of communication". But stylistics must also investigate the ontological, i.e.
natural, inherent, and functional peculiarities of the means of communication which may ensure
the effect sought.
Archibald A. Hill states that "A current definition of style and stylistics is that structures,
sequences, and patterns which extend, or may extend, beyond the boundaries of individual
sentences define style, and that the study of them is stylistics." [8. 149]
The truth of this approach to style and stylistics lies in the fact that the author
concentrates on such- phenomena in language as present a system, in other words, on facts which
are not confined to individual use.
The most frequent definition of style is one expressed by Seymour Chatman: "Style is a
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product of individual choices and patterns of choices (emphasis added) among linguistic
possibilities."
This definition indirectly deals with the idiosyncrasies peculiar to a given writer.
Somehow it fails to embrace such phenomena in text structure where the 'individual' is reduced
to the minimum or even done away with entirely (giving preference to non-individualistic forms
in using language means). However, this definition is acceptable when applied to the ways menof-letters use language when they seek to make it conform to their immediate aims and purport.
A somewhat broader view of style is expressed by Werner Winter who maintains that "A style
may be said to be characterized by a pattern of recurrent selections from the inventory of
optional features of a language. Various types of selection can be found: complete exclusion of
an optional element, obligatory inclusion of a feature optional elsewhere, varying degrees of
inclusion of a specific variant without complete elimination of competing features."
The idea of taking various types of selection as criteria for distinguishing styles seems to
be a sound one. It places the whole problem on a solid foundation of objective-criteria, namely,
the interdependence of optional and obligatory features.
There is no point in quoting other definitions of style. They are too many and too
heterogeneous to fall under one more or less satisfactory unified notion. Undoubtedly all these
diversities in the understanding of the word 'style' stem from its ambiguity. But still all these
various definitions leave impression that by and large they all have something in common. All of
them point to some integral significance, namely, that style is a set of characteristics by which
we distinguish one author from another or members of one subclass from members of other subclasses, all of which are members-of the same general class.
What are these sets of characteristics typical of a writer or of a subclass of the literary
language will be seen in the analysis of the language means of a craven writer and of the
subclasses of the general literary standard.
Another point the above quotations have in common is that all of them concentrate on the
form of the expression almost to the detriment of the content. In other words, style is regarded as
something that belongs exclusively to the plane of expression and not to the plane 'of content.
[13. 73]
This opinion predominantly deals with the correspondence between the intentions of the
writer whoever he may be—a man of letters, the writer of a diplomatic document, an article in a
newspaper, or a scientific treatise—and the effect achieved. The evaluation is also based on
whether the choice of language means conforms with the most general pattern of the given type
of text—a novel, a poem, a letter, a document, an article, an essay and so on.
It follows then that the term 'style', being ambiguous, needs a restricting adjective to
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denote what particular aspect of style we intend to deal with. It is suggested here that the term
individual style should be applied to that sphere of linguistic and literary science which deals
with the peculiarities of a writer's individual manner of using language means to achieve the
effect he desires. Deliberate choice must be distinguished from a habitual idiosyncrasy in the use
of language units; every individual has his own manner and habits of using them.
Functional styles should be distinguished from varieties of language. The main difference, be it remembered, is that the written and oral varieties of language are merely forms of
communication which depend on the situation in which the communication is maintained, on the
presence or absence of an interlocutor, whereas functional styles are patterns of the written
variety of language calculated to secure the desired purport of the communication.
Each functional style of the literary language makes use of language means the
interrelation of which is peculiar to the given functional style. It is the coordination of language
media and stylistic devices which shapes the distinctive features of each style, and not the
separate language media or the stylistic devices themselves.
Each functional style, however, can be recognized by one or more leading, especially
conspicuous- features. For instance, the use of special terminology is a lexical characteristic of
the functional styles of scientific prose, and one by which it can easily be recognized. The
address "Dear sirs" will be a signal to refer the message to the functional style of official
documents.
However, since any functional style presents a system in which various features are
interwoven in a particular manner, one group of language means, a leading feature though it may
be, will not suffice to determine the functional style.
A functional style is a patterned variety of literary text characterized by the greater or
lesser deification of its constituents, supra-phrasal units (SPU), in which the choice and
arrangement of interdependent and interwoven language media are calculated to secure the
purport of the communication.
Each functional style s a relatively stable system at the given stage in the development of
the literary language, but it changes, and sometimes considerably, from one period to another.
Therefore functional style of language is a historical category. There are many instances to prove
this. Thus, the functional style of emotive prose actually began to function as an independent
style after the second half of the 16th century; the newspaper style budded off from the publicistic
style; the oratorical style has undergone considerable fundamental changes, and so with other
functional styles.
The development of each style is predetermined by the changes in the norms of Standard
English. It is also greatly influenced by changing social conditions, the progress of science and
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the development of cultural life in the country. For instance, the emotive elements of language
were abundantly used in scientific prose in the 18th century. This is explained by the fact that
scientists in many fields used the emotional language instead of one more logically precise and
convincing, because they lacked the scientific data obtainable only by deep, prolonged research.
With the development of science and the accumulation of scientific data, emotive elements gave
way to convincing arguments and "stubborn" facts.
The English literary language has evolved a number of functional styles easily
distinguishable one from another. They are not homogeneous and fall into several variants all
having some central point of resemblance, or better to say, all integrated by the invariant— the
abstract ideal system.
Newspaper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized
as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms.
English newspaper writing dates from the 17th century. At the close of the 16th century
short news pamphlets began to appear. Any such publication either presented news from only
one source or dealt with one specific subject. Note the titles of some of the earliest news pamphlets: "Newe newes, containing a short rehearsal of Stukely's and Morice's Rebellion" (1579),
"Newes from Spain and Holland" (1593), "Wonderful and strange newes out of Suffolke and
Essex, where it rayned wheat, the space of six or seven miles" (1583).
News pamphlets appeared only from time to time and cannot be classed as newspapers,
though they were unquestionably the immediate forerunners of the British press.
The first of any regular series of English newspapers was the Weekly News which first
appeared on May 23, 1622. It lasted for some twenty years till in 1641 it ceased publication. The
17th century saw the rise of a number of other news sheets which, with varying success, struggled
on in the teeth of discouragement and restrictions imposed by the Crown. With the introduction
of a strict licensing system many such sheets were suppressed, and the Government, in its turn,
set before the public a paper of its own—The London Gazette, first published on February 5,
1666. The paper was a semi-weekly and carried official information, royal decrees, news from
abroad, and advertisements. [9. 150]
The first English daily newspaper—the Daily Courant— was brought out on March 11,
1702. The paper carried news, largely foreign, and no comment, the latter being against the
principles of the publisher, as was stated in the first issue of his paper. Thus the early English
newspaper was principally a vehicle of information. Commentary as a regular feature found its
way into the newspapers later. But as far back as the middle of the 18 th century the British
newspaper was very much like what it is today, carrying on its pages news, both foreign and
domestic, advertisements, announcements and articles containing comments.
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The rise of the American newspaper, which was brought onto American soil by British
settlers, dates back to the late 17th, early 18th centuries.
It took the English newspaper more than a century to establish a style and a standard of
its own. And it is only by the 19th century that newspaper English may be said to have developed
into a system of language media, forming a separate functional style.
The specific conditions of newspaper publication, the restrictions of time and space, have
left an indelible mark on newspaper English. For more than a century writers arid linguists have
been vigorously, attacking "the slipshod construction and the vulgar vocabulary" of newspaper
English. The very term newspaper English carried a shade of disparagement. Yet, for all the
defects of newspaper English, serious though they may be, this form of the English literary
language cannot be reduced — as some purists have claimed — merely to careless slovenly
writing or to a distorted literary English. This is one of the forms of the English literary language
characterized— as any other style — by a definite communicative aim and its own system of
language means.
Not all the printed matter found in newspapers comes under newspaper style. The modern
newspaper carries material of an extremely diverse character. On the pages of a newspaper one
finds not only news and comment on it, press reports and articles, advertisements and announcements, but also stories and poems, crossword puzzles, chess problems and the like. Since the
latter serve the purpose of entertaining the reader, they cannot be considered specimens of
newspaper style. It is newspaper printed matter that performs the function of informing the
reader and providing him with an evaluation of the information published that can be regarded as
belonging to newspaper style.
Thus, English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical,
phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community as a separate
linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader. [9. 151]
Information and evaluation co-exist in the modern English newspaper, and it is only in
terms of diachrony that the function of information can claim priority. In fact, all kinds of
newspaper writing are to a greater or lesser degree both informative and evaluative. But, of
course, it is obvious that in most of the basic newspaper "genres" one of the two functions
prevails; thus, for example, news of all kinds is essentially informative, whereas the editorial is
basically evaluative.
Information in the English newspaper is conveyed, in the first place, through the-medium
of:
1) brief news items,
2) press reports (parliamentary, of court proceedings, etc.),
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3) articles purely informational in character,
4) advertisements and announcements.
The newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion on political and other "matters.
Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very selection and way of presentation of news, in
the use of specific vocabulary, such as allege and claim, casting some doubt on the facts
reported, and syntactic constructions indicating a lack of assurance on the part of the reporter as
to the correctness of the facts reported or his desire to avoid responsibility (for example, 'Mr. X
was said to have opposed the proposal'; 'Mr. X was quoted as saying...'}.
The headlines of news items, apart from giving information about the subject-matter, also
carry a considerable amount of appraisal (the size and arrangement of the headline, the use of
emotionally coloured words and elements of emotive syntax), thus indicating the interpretation
of the facts in the news item that follows. But, of course, the principal vehicle of interpretation
and appraisal is the newspaper article and the editorial in particular.
Editorials (leading articles or leaders) are characterized by a subjective handling of facts,
political or otherwise. They have much in common with classical specimens of publicistic
writing and are often looked upon as such. However, newspaper evaluative writing unmistakably
bears the stamp of newspaper style. Thus, it seems natural to regard newspaper articles, editorials
included, as coming within the system of English newspaper style. But it should be noted that
while editorials and other articles in opinion columns are predominantly evaluative, newspaper
feature articles, as a rule, carry a considerable amount of information, and the ratio of the
informative and the evaluative varies substantially from article to article.
So, newspapers are most often published on a daily or weekly basis, and they usually
focus on one particular geographic area where most of their readers live. Despite recent setbacks
in circulation and profits, newspapers are still the most iconic outlet for news and other types of
written journalism.
18
I.1. Substyles of newspaper style
To understand the language peculiarities of English newspaper style it will be sufficient
to analyze the following basic substyles of newspaper style:
1) brief news items,
2) advertisements and announcements,
3) the headline,
4) the editorial.
The most concise form of newspaper informational is the headline. The headlines of news
items, apart from giving information about the subject-matter, also carry a considerable amount
of appraisal (the size and arrangement of the headline, the use of emotionally colored words and
elements of emotive syntax), thus indicating the interpretation of the facts in the news item that
follows.
The function of advertisement and announcement is to inform the reader. There are 2
basic types of advertisements and announcements in the modern English newspaper: classified
and non-classified (separate).
In classified advertisements and announcements various kinds of information are
arranged according to subject-matter into sections, each bearing an appropriate name.
As for the separate advertisements and announcements, the variety of language form and
subject-matter is so great that hardly any essential features common to all be pointed out.
Editorials are an intermediate phenomenon bearing the stamp of both the newspaper style
and the publistic style. [15. 92]
The function of the editorial is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of
certain facts. Emotional coloring in editorial articles is also achieved with the help of various
stylistic devices (especially metaphors and epithets), both lexical and syntactical, the use of
which is largely traditional.
Advertisements made their way into the British press at an early stage of its development,
in the mid-17th century. So they are almost as old as newspapers themselves.
The principal function of advertisements and announcements, like that of brief news, is to
inform the reader. There are two basic types of advertisements and announcements in the modern
English newspaper: classified and non-classified.
In classified advertisements and announcements various kinds of information are
arranged according to subject-matter into sections, each bearing an appropriate name. In The
Times, for example, the reader never fails to find several hundred advertisements and
announcements classified into groups, such as BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, DEATHS, IN
MEMORI-AM, BUSINESS OFFERS, PERSONAL, and others.
19
This classified arrangement has resulted in a number of stereotyped patterns regularly
employed in newspaper advertising. Note one of the accepted patterns of classified
advertisements and announcements in The Times:
BIRTHS
CULHANE.—On November 1st, at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, to BARBARA and
JOHN CULHANE — a son.
All announcements in the 'Birth' section are built on exactly the same elliptical pattern.
This tendency to eliminate from the sentence all elements that can be done without is a
pronounced one in advertisement and announcement writing. The elliptic sentence structure has
no stylistic function; it is purely technical—to economize space, expensive in what newspaper
men call the "advertising hole." Though, of course, having become a common practice, this
peculiar brevity of expression is a stylistic feature of advertisements and announcements which
may take a variety of forms, for example:
TRAINED NURSE with child 2 years seeks post London preferred. — Write Box C. 658,
The Times, E.G. 4.'
Here the absence of all articles and some punctuation marks makes the statement
telegram-like. Sentences which are grammatically complete also tend to be short and compact.
The vocabulary of classified advertisements and announcements is on the whole
essentially neutral with here and there a sprinkling of emotionally coloured words or phrases
used to attract the reader's attention. Naturally, it is advertisements and announcements in the
PERSONAL section that are sometimes characterized by emotional colouring, for example:
ROBUST, friendly student, not entirely unintelligent, seeks Christmas vacation job. No
wife, will travel, walk, ride or drive and undertake any domestic, - agricultural or industrial
activity. Will bidders for this curiously normal chap please write Box C. 552, The Times, and
E.G. 4.
Emotional colouring is generally moderate, though editors seem to place no restrictions
on it. See the following announcement in the PERSONAL section of The Times:
Alleluia! I'm a mum. (A jocular modification of the chorus of the well-known American
song "Alleluia, I'm a bum". A young woman is stating that she has become a mother.)
As for the non-classified advertisements and announcements, the variety of language
form and subject-matter is so great that hardly any essential features common to all may be
pointed out. The reader's attention is attracted by every possible means: typographical, graphical
and stylistic, both lexical and syntactical. Here there is no call for brevity, as the advertiser may
buy as much space as he chooses.
The following are the initial lines of a full-page advertisement of Barclays Bank carried
20
by an issue of The Guardian:
WHAT WE WANT
A bank's business is with other people's money, so we want people whose integrity is
beyond question. Money is a very personal business, so we want people who like people.
Banking is work that calls for accuracy, so we want people who can work accurately. Our staff
has to have integrity, personality, accuracy; we want them to have imagination too.
The headline (the title given to a news item or an article) is a dependent form of
newspaper writing. It is in fact a part of a larger whole. The specific functional and linguistic
traits of the headline provide sufficient ground for isolating and analyzing it as a specific "genre"
of journalism.
The main function of the headline is to inform the reader briefly what the text that
follows is about. But apart from this, headlines often contain elements of appraisal, they show
the reporter's or the paper's attitude to the facts reported or commented on, thus also performing
the function of instructing the reader.
The headline is the title given to a news item of a newspaper article. The main function of
the headline is to inform the reader briefly of what the news that follows is about. [16. 63]
Syntactically headlines are very short sentences or phrases of a variety of patterns:
1. full declarative sentences;
2. interrogative sentences;
3. nominative sentences;
4. elliptical sentences;
5. sentences with articles omitted;
6. phrases with verbals;
7. questions in the forms of statements;
8. complex sentences;
9. headlines including direct speech.
English headlines are short and catching, they "compact the gist of news stories into a
few eye-snaring words. A skillfully turned out headline tells a story, or enough of it, to arouse or
satisfy the reader's curiosity."
In some English and American newspapers sensational headlines are quite common. The
practices of headline writing are different with different newspapers. In many papers there is, as
a rule, but one headline to a news item, whereas such papers as The Times, The Guardian, The
New York Times often carry a news item or an article with two or three headlines, and
sometimes as many as four, for example:
BRITAIN ALMOST "CUT IN HALF"
21
Many Vehicles Marooned in Blizzard
(The Guardian)
STATE AUDIT FINDS NEW CITY DEFICITS IN LAST
2 BUDGETS
Asserts Bookkeeping Errors Led Controller to Overstate Anticipated Revenues
$ 292-MILLION INVOLVED
Report Asserts Both Beame And Goldin Issued Notes Without Proper Backing
(The New York Times)
FIRE FORCES AIRLINER TO TURN BACK
Cabin Filled With Smoke
Safe Landing For 97 Passengers
Atlantic Drama In Super VC 10
Such group headlines are almost a summary of the information contained in the news
item or article.
The functions and the peculiar nature of English headlines predetermine the choice of the
language means used. The vocabulary groups considered in the analysis of brief news items are
commonly found in headlines. But headlines also abound in emotionally coloured words and
phrases, as the italicized words in the following:
End this Bloodbath (Morning Star)
Milk Madness (Morning Star)
Tax agent a cheat (Daily World)
No Wonder Housewives are pleading: ‘HELP’ (Daily Mirror)
Roman Catholic Priest sacked (Morning Star)
Furthermore, to attract the reader's attention, headline writers often resort to a deliberate
breaking-up of set expressions, in particular fused set expressions, and deformation of special
terms, a stylistic device capable of producing a strong emotional effect, for example:
Cakes and Bitter Ale (The Sunday Times)
Conspirator-in-chief Still at Large (The Guardian)
Compare respectively the allusive set expression cakes and ale, and the term commanderin-chief.
Other stylistic devices are not infrequent in headlines, as for example, the pun (for
example: 'And what about Watt'—The Observer), alliteration (for example: Miller in Maniac
Aiood— The Observer), and others.
Syntactically headlines are very short sentences or phrases of a variety of patterns:
a) Full declarative sentences, for example: 'They Threw Bombs on Gipsy Sites' (Morning
22
Star), 'Allies Now Look to London' (The Times)
b) Interrogative sentences, for example: 'Do-you love war?' (Daily World), 'Will Celtic
confound pundits?' (Morning Star)
c) Nominative sentences, for example: 'Gloomy Sunday' (The Guardian), ‘Atlantic Sea
Traffic’ (The Times), 'Union peace plan for Girling stewards' (Morning Star)
d) Elliptical sentences:
a. with an auxiliary verb omitted, for example: 'Initial report not expected until June!'
(The Guardian), 'Yachtsman spotted" (Morning Star);
b. with the subject omitted, for example: 'Will win' (Morning Star), Will give Mrs.
Onassis $ 250,000 a year'.(The New York Times);
c. with the subject and part of the predicate omitted, for example: 'Off to the sun'
(Morning Star), 'Still in danger' (The Guardian)
e) Sentences with articles omitted, for example: 'Step to Overall Settlement Cited in Text
of Agreement' (International Herald Tribune), 'Blaze kills 15 at Party" (Morning Star).
Articles are very frequently omitted in all types of headlines.
f) Phrases with verbals—infinitive, participial and gerundial, for example: ‘To get US
aid’ (Morning Star), ‘To visit Faisal’ (Morning Star), ‘Keeping Prices Down’ (The Times),
'Preparing reply on cold war' (Morning Star), 'Speaking parts' (The Sunday Times)
g) Questions in the form of statements, for example: 'The worse the better?' (Daily
World), 'Growl now, smile, later?' (The Observer)
h) Complex sentences, for example: 'Senate Panel Hears Board of Military Experts Who
Favoured Losing Bidder' '(The New York Times), 'Army Says It Gave LSD to Unknown GIs'
(International Herald Tribune)
i) Headlines including direct speech:
a. introduced by a full sentence, for example: 'Prince Richard says: "I was not in trouble"'
(The Guardian), 'What Oils the Wheels of Industry?
Asks James Lowery-Olearch of the Shell-Мех and B. P. Group' (The Times);
b. introduced elliptically, for example: 'The Queen: "My deep distress'" (The Guardian),
'Observe Mid-East Ceasefire—U Thant' (Morning Star)
The above listed patterns are the most typical, although they do not cover all the variety
in headline structure. [12. 149]
The headline in British and American newspapers is an important vehicle both of
information and appraisal; editors give it special attention, admitting that few read beyond the
headline, or at best the lead. To lure the reader into going through the whole of the item or at
least a greater part of it, takes a lot of skill and ingenuity on the part of the headline writer.
23
The function of the editorial is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of
certain facts. Editorials comment on the political and other events of the day. Their purpose is to
give the editor's opinion and interpretations of the news published and suggest to the reader that
it is the correct one. Like any evaluative writing, editorials appeal not only to the reader's mind
but to his feelings as well. Hence the use of emotionally coloured language elements, both
lexical and structural, Here are examples:
"The long-suffering British housewife needs a bottomless purse to cope with this scale of
inflation." (Daily Mirror)
"But since they came into power the trend has been up, up, up and the pace seems to be
accelerating." (Daily Mail).
In addition to vocabulary typical of brief news items, writers of editorials make an
extensive use of emotionally coloured vocabulary. Alongside political words and expressions,
terms, clichés and abbreviations one can find colloquial words and expressions, slang, and
professionalisms. The language of editorial articles is characterized by a combination of different
strata of vocabulary, which enhances the emotional effect, for example:
FAT GIFTS FOR SOME
THE TOPMOST boss of the giant Bank Organisation, Sir John Davis, has sacked the
lesser boss Mr. Graham Dowson, who gets Ј, 150,000 from the company's till as "compensation"
for loss of office.
Were there screams of agony in the capitalist press or from the Tories about the size of
this golden handshake? There were" not.
Fat gifts are the usual thing when big bosses go. The bigger and richer they are, the fatter
the cheques. (Morning Star)
(2) THATCHER
MRS. THATCHER has now arrived back from her American jamboree proudly boasting
that she is now "totally established as a political leader in the international sphere."
This simply goes to show that the fawning American audiences drawn from the top
drawer of US capitalist society to whom she spoke will buy any farrago of trite and pious
platitudes.
When she arrived back brimming over with her new-found international fame, she
regaled us all once again with her views on equality and the opportunity to be unequal. [12. 150]
One thing is certain. The capitalist system for which she stands can never be accused of
denying the majority of the British people of this opportunity to be unequal. (Morning Star)
(3) LOCAL BLOODSUCKERS
Local Government was once dull. But looming for ratepayers this spring are rate
24
increases of an average of 25 per cent, outside London and above 60 per cent, within it. These
follow last year's - stratospheric increases. Alas, if rapacious demands of this kind can emerge
from them, what goes on in Britain's town halls cannot be so tedious. Chaotic, frightening,
scandalous, yes; dull, no. ... (The Daily Telegraph)
The above quoted examples from English newspaper editorials abound in emotionally
coloured vocabulary units. Along with neutral and literary (common and special) vocabulary one
can find words used with emotive colouring: topmost, giant, screams (of agony) (1), fawning,
pious, platitudes (2), scandalous, frightening, rapacious, alas (3); colloquial vocabulary units: to
sack, fat(\), jamboree (2); slang: to buy (in the sense of 'accept') (2); "and instances of linguistic
imagery: this golden handshake (1), the top drawer of US capitalist society (2), stratospheric
increases (3), etc. All these lexical means are highly emotive and thoroughly evaluative.
Emotional colouring in editorial articles is achieved with the help of various stylistic
devices, both lexical and syntactical, the use of which is largely traditional. Editorials abound in
trite stylistic means, especially metaphors and epithets, for example, international climate, a
price explosion, a price spiral, a spectacular sight, an outrageous act, brutal rule, an astounding
statement, crazy policies. T
Traditional periphrases are also very common in newspaper editorials, such as Wall
Street (American financial circles), Downing Street (the British Government), Fleet Street (the
London press), the Great Powers (the five or six biggest and strongest states), the third world
(states other than socialist or capitalist), and so on.
Most trite stylistic means commonly used in the newspaper have become clichés. But
genuine stylistic means are also sometimes used, which helps the writer of the editorial to bring
his idea home to the reader through the associations that genuine imagery arouses. Practically
any stylistic device may be found in editorial writing, and when aptly used, such devices prove
to be a powerful means of appraisal, of expressing a personal attitude to the matter in hand, of
exercising the necessary emotional effect on the reader. Note the following example:
"That this huge slice of industry should become a battleground in which public cash is
used as a whip with which to lash workers is a scandal. ...
Yet it is the workers who are being served up as the lambs for sacrifice, and it is public
money that is used to stoke the fires of the sacrificial pyre." (Morning Star)
The stylistic effect of these sustained similes is essentially satirical. A similar effect is
frequently achieved by the use of metaphor, irony, the breaking-up of set expressions, the
stylistic use of word-building, by using allusions, etc. Two types of allusions can be
distinguished in newspaper article writing: a. allusions to political and other facts of the day
which are indispensable and have no stylistic value, and b. historical, literary and biblical
25
allusions which are often used to create a specific stylistic effect, largely—satirical. The
emotional force of expression in the editorial is often enhanced by the use of various syntactical
stylistic devices. Some editorials abound in parallel constructions, various types of repetition,
rhetorical, questions and other syntactical stylistic means.
Yet, the role of expressive language means and stylistic devices in the editorial should not
be over-estimated. They stand out against the essentially neutral background. And whatever
stylistic devices one comes across in editorials, they are for the most part trite. Broadly speaking,
tradition reigns supreme in the language of the newspaper. [11. 83]
Original forms of expression and fresh genuine stylistic means are comparatively rare in
newspaper articles, editorials included.
However, although all editorials, as a specific genre of newspaper writing, have common
distinguishing features, the editorials in different papers vary in degree of emotional colouring
and stylistic originality of expression. While these qualities are typical enough of the "popular"
newspapers (those with large circulations), such "as the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail, the socalled "quality papers", as The Times and The Guardian, make rather a sparing use of the
expressive and stylistic means of the language. Whatever stylistic "gems" one may encounter in
the newspaper, they cannot obscure the essentially traditional mode of expression characteristic
of newspaper English.
I.2. The role of newspaper style in a functional style
Newspaper style was the last of all styles of written literary English to be recognized as a
specific from of writing standing apart from other forms. English Newspaper writing dates from
the 17th century. At the close of the 16th century, short news pamphlets began to appear.
Any such publication either presented news from only one source or dealt with one
specific subject. Note the titles of some of the earliest news pamphlets: “ Newer news,
containing a short rehearsal of Stukely's and Morice's Rebellion” (1579), “ News from Spain and
Holland” (1593), “Wonderful and strange news out of Suffolk and Essex, where it rained wheat
the space of six or seven miles” (1583). New pamphlets appeared only from time to time and
cannot be classed as newspaper, through they were unquestionably the immediate forerunners of
the British press.
The first of any regular series of English newspaper was the Weekly News, which first
appeared on May 23, 1622. It lasted for some twenty years until in 1641 it ceased publications.
The 17 century saw the rise of a number of other newssheets, which, with varying successes,
struggled on in the teeth of discouragement and restriction imposed by the Crown. With the
26
introduction of a strict licensing system many such sheets were suppressed, and Government, in
its turn, set before the public a paper of its own- The London Gazette, first published on
February5, 1666. The paper was a semi-weekly and carried official information, royal decrees,
news from abroad, and advertisements.
The first English daily newspaper - the Daily Courant - was brought on March 11, 1702.
The paper carried news, largely foreign, and no comment, the latter being against the principles
of the publisher, as was stated in the first issue of his paper. [7. 205]
Thus, the early English newspaper was principally a vehicle of information.
Commentary as a regular feature found its way into the newspaper later. But as far back
as the middle of 18th century the British newspaper was very much like what it is today, carrying
on its pages news, both foreign and domestic, advertisements, announcements and articles
containing comments.
The rise of the American newspaper, which was brought onto American soil by British
settlers, dates back to the late 17th, early 18th centuries.
It took the English newspaper more than century to establish a style and a standard of its
own. Moreover, it is only by the 19th century that newspaper English may be said to have
developed into a system of a language means which forms a separate functional style.
The specific conditions of newspaper publication, the restrictions of time and space, have
left an indelible mark on newspaper English. For more than a century, writers and linguistics
have been vigorously attacking “the slipshod construction and the vulgar vocabulary” of
newspaper English. The very newspaper English carried a shade of disparagement. Yet, for all
the defects of newspaper English, serious through they may be, this form of literary language
cannot be reduced- as some purists have claimed - merely to careless slovenly writing or to
distorted literary English. This is one of the forms of the English literary language characterized
- as any other style - by a definite communicative aim and its own definite system of language
means.
Thus, English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical,
phraseological and grammatical means, which is perceived by the community speaking the
language as a separate unity that serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader.
Not all the printed matter found in newspaper comes under newspaper style. The modem
newspaper carries material of an extremely divers character. On the pages of the newspaper one
finds not only news and comment on it, but also stories and poems, crossword puzzles, cheese
problems, and the like. Since this serve the purpose of entertaining the reader, they cannot be
considered specimens of newspaper styles. Nor can articles on special fields, such as science and
technology, art, literature, etc. be classed as belonging to newspaper style.
27
Most modern newspapers are in one of three sizes:
· Broadsheets: 600 mm by 380 mm (23 by 15 inches), generally associated with more
intellectual newspapers, although a trend towards «compact» newspapers is changing this.
· Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets at 380 mm by 300 mm (15 by 11 inches), and
often perceived as sensationalist in contrast to broadsheets. Examples: The Sun, The National
Enquirer, The National Ledger, The Star Magazine, New York Post, the Chicago Sun-Times,
The Globe.
· Berliner or Midi: 470 mm by 315 mm (18 by 12 inches) used by European papers such
as Le Monde in France, La Stampa in Italy, El Pais in Spain and, since 12 September 2005, The
Guardian in the United Kingdom.
While most newspapers are aimed at a broad spectrum of readers, usually geographically
defined, some focus on groups of readers defined more by their interests than their location: for
example, there are daily and weekly business newspapers and sports newspapers. More
specialists still are some weekly newspapers, usually free and distributed within limited areas;
these may serve communities as specific as certain immigrant populations, or the local gay
community. [6. 79]
A daily newspaper is issued every day, sometimes with the exception of Sundays and
some national holidays. Typically, the majority of these newspapers' staff work Monday to
Friday, so the Sunday and Monday editions largely depend on content done in advance or
content that is syndicated. Most daily newspapers are published in the morning. Afternoon or
evening papers are aimed more at commuters and office workers.
Weekly newspapers are common and tend to be smaller than daily papers. In some cases,
there also are newspapers that are published twice or three times a week. In the United States,
such newspapers are generally still classified as weeklies.
Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country: a
national newspaper, as contrasted with a local newspaper serving a city or region. In the United
Kingdom, there are numerous national newspapers, including The Independent, The Times, The
Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Express and
The Daily Mirror. In the United States and Canada, there are few, if any, national newspapers,
and in almost every market one newspaper has an effective monopoly. Certain newspapers,
notably The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today in the US and The
Globe and Mail and The National Post in Canada are available at limited locations throughout
the country. Large metropolitan newspapers with also have expanded distribution networks and,
with effort, can be found out with their normal area.
28
There is also a small group of newspapers which may be characterized as international
newspapers. Some, such as Christian Science Monitor and The International Herald Tribune,
have always had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or «international
editions» of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers. Often these international editions
are scaled down to remove articles that might not interest the wider range of readers.
But the principal vehicle of interpretation and appraisal is the newspaper article and the
editorial in particular. Editorials (leading articles) are characterized by the subjective handling of
facts, political or otherwise, and therefore have more in common with political essays or articles
and should rather be classed as belonging to the publicistic style than to the newspaper.
However, newspaper publicistic writing bears a stamp of its own style. Though it seems
natural to consider newspaper articles, editorials included, as coming within the system of
English newspaper style, it is necessary to note that such articles are an intermediate
phenomenon characterized by a combination of styles - the newspaper style and the publicistic
style. In other words, they may be considered hybrids.
English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical,
phraseological and grammatical means, which is perceived by the community as separate
linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing, instructing the reader. In fact, all kinds of
newspapers writing are to a greater or lesser degree both informative and evaluative.
The newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion or political and appraisal and other
matters. Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very selection and the way of presentation
of news, in the use of specific vocabulary. The vocabulary used in newspaper writing is natural
and common literary. But apart from this, newspaper style has its one of the smartest ways to
illustrate the topic and to direct it to the point is to use idioms in the article. Here are idioms
found in popular newspapers.
«Venture capitalist David Cowan is a professed chess-playing nerd who studied math
and computer science at Harvard. Last year, though, he decided he needed a crash course in
getting hip». - The New York Times
Crash course - a quick lesson
«Many older tech investors, eager not to miss out, are going to great lengths to shed
fuddy-duddy images and ingratiate themselves with the younger generation The New York Times
(to) miss out - to miss an opportunity; to fail to make use of an opportunity (to) go to great
lengths - to do a lot; to do a lot to achieve a certain goal fuddy-duddy - out of fashion; not
modern; an old-fashioned person who doesn't want to change
«As she pushed her shopping cart down an aisle of the Super Stop & Shop near her
hometown of Warren, R.I., recently, Ms. Cabrera, a retired schoolteacher, offered her thoughts
29
on why she steers clear of high-fructose corn syrup: "It's been linked to obesity, and it's just not
something that's natural or good for you." - The New York Times
to steer clear (of something) - to avoid something; to stay away from something. (Note
that "to steer" means to guide with a wheel or a similar device. When there's something in the
road, you may need to steer your car around it).
«No one is predicting that the iPod economy will be slowing soon. Mr. Baker said:
"We've barely scratched the surface with the video iPod." - The New York Times
«In some communities, efforts are being made to increase the amount of affordable
housing. Celebrity-heavy Aspen, for example, has created 2,600 low-cost units over the past 30
years. But such measures only scratch the surface of the problem». - Financial Times to (barely
or only) scratch the surface - to only begin to explore or understand something; to deal with
something only superficially
«Rap-metal, once all the rage in the '90s thanks to bands like Limp Bizkit, now seems as
relevant as Beavis and Butt- head». - The New York Times
"Condos are all the rage right now," Hodgett said. "People like to be close to downtown
and walk to restaurants and shopping. They can come home in the evening and not worry about
mowing the lawn." - The daily Mail all the rage - very popular, trendy Weber, the grill maker
founded in Mount Prospect, Ill., in 1952, is refining its most expensive grill, the $2,200 Summit
Platinum D6, in response to buyers who want more bells and whistles, said Brooke Jones, a
Weber product manager. "They are looking for stainless steel grills and more accessories like
rotisseries, warmer drawers, side burners and hand lights," she said. - The New York Times
bells and whistles - fancy features; product features that make a product more premium
or expensive but that are not usually necessary; extras Just seven months after the city's bid to
host the 2012 Olympics fell flat, a key booster of the effort has opened the door to a scramble for
the 2016 games - statements that fly in the face of previous comments by Mayor Bloomberg and
other city officials. -The Observer fly in the face - contradict; go against It took Carolyn
Fellwock and Charlie Watson only 11 months to tie the knot after meeting on Yahoo Personals and three years more to call it quits. The Times
to tie the knot - to get married to call it quits - to end something (such as a relationship, a
job, a project, etc).
Some people who met a spouse online and later divorced aren't losing heart. Some even
say they would date online again. - The Wall Street Journal to lose heart - to give up hope; to get
discouraged.
Diana Leal, a Woodland Hills paralegal, said that when she was working in Dallas, she
immediately lost respect for her attorney boss when he asked her out for dinner. I couldn't
30
believe it. I think he just fell for my beauty or something. And then when I said `no,' he fired
me," Leal said. "Bottom line, you can't be friends with your boss. It complicates things." - Los
Angeles Daily News
bottom line - the main point is…; the conclusion is…
Kids too into school have lost their love of learning (if they ever had any). They cram and
forget. They're stressed. They're sleep-deprived. They compete with their "friends" and kiss up to
their teachers. - The Times
Have a good relations hip with your boss. That does not mean kiss up to your boss. If it
gets too far along a bad path, it means you don't get the good assignments, don't get the
promotions and don't have a chance to advance your career. Plus, you may just be miserable.
Make sure your relationship with your boss is open and honest, casual yet also professional. The News & Observer to kiss up - to flatter; try to gain favor with; behave in a way to make
people like you more. [22. 88]
But Vladimir Nuzhny, a toxicologist, said up to half of imported wine has not
corresponded to the required quality since the fall of the Soviet Union. "It never killed anyone
and Russian leadership used to turn a blind eye, but now relations are worsening with the
Georgian and Moldovan leaders they don't see a need to ignore it any more," he said. - The
Guardian to turn a blind eye - to ignore; to pretend that something is not happening; to let
something illegal or wrong happen without saying anything.
George W. Bush can be sure of one thing when he next visits China on official business.
Chinese president Hu Jintao won't try to emulate the Texas charm the US president dishes out at
his Crawford ranch, dressing down to shoot the breeze over pork dumplings at a village
restaurant. - Financial Times shoot the breeze - to talk; to chat; to make conversation
Steve Girdler, director of services at Kelly UK, agrees that Sugar's methods are
impressive. "Sometimes I think we can be too soft in our assessment of graduates. But what's the
point when we know that in reality, business can be a dog-eat-dog world?" - The Guardian dogeat-dog world - a cruel world; a challenging environment in which people just look out for
themselves,
As the cost of living for young people rises, the helping hand from parents is extending
well past college years. - The New York Times There was a table for the folks from Alcoholics
Anonymous, another where people could sign up for food stamps and another where homeless
veterans could find a helping hand. -The Guardian helping hand - assistance; help.
In one of his first acts as president, Obama was gagging for the prison at Guantanamo
closed within the first year of his presidency and ordered a review of the status of the roughly
245 men still detained there. The review is underway now. - The Guardian
31
Be gagging for something-to want something or want to do something very much
«Companies developing this technology are not necessarily cashing in».- The Times cash in (on
something) - to make money doing something.
Graphic Means of the newspaper style: wide use of graphic means - change of prints,
word-arts, italics, various graphic symbols (asterisks, etc.) used for the sake of text limitation as
well as elements of compositional arrangement such as columns, titles, subtitles, parts and
paragraphs.
Language Means of publicist style: vocabulary: priority of neutral and bookish
vocabulary, wide use of language means to actualize chronotop (proper and geographical names,
\abundance of statistics, toponymic and proper names, facts and data), means of evaluation,
neologisms, social political terminology, a great number of loan-words and international words,
use words and word-combinations of other styles ( especially, conversational), against the
general background of the bookish style vocabulary, including terminology as well as means of
imagery to increase expressiveness / trite metaphors, metonymies, personification, metaphorical
paraphrases, metaphorical use of terminology/, newspaper terms: newspaper vocabulary and
cliches (journalese and bookish), decomposition of phraseological units.
Word-building: loan suffixes and prefixes as well as combination of words; grammatical
means: in morphology the use of the singular number of nouns in their collective meaning, plural
number for the definition of generalization, wide use of the superlative degree of adjectives in
order to reveal expressiveness as well as the use of adjectives-colouratives, substantiation and
evaluation of the use of numerals, adjectives and participles. Average sentence length (911words) and average degree of complexity in the sentence structure. Wide use of declarative
sentences.
The use of questions, exclamatory sentences for the sake of expressiveness. Means of
expressive syntax: inversions, parallelism, antithesis, parcellation, gradation, isolation, different
types of the author's words presentation and conversational constructions, different patterns in
the use of homogeneous parts of the sentence - double, three-element and multi-element;
compositional and textual means: canonized three-part structure of publicist texts, the principle
of “pyramid” and its effects in the composition of modern newspaper text, the use of
compositional ( foregrounding) devices.
Newspaper style English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated
lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community speaking
the language as a separate unity that basically serves the purpose of informing and instructing the
reader. Since the primary function of newspaper style is to impart information, only printed
matter serving this purpose comes under newspaper style proper.
32
The most concise form of newspaper informational is the headline. The headlines of news
items, apart from giving information about the subject-matter, also carry a considerable amount
of appraisal (the size and arrangement of the headline, the use of emotionally colored words and
elements of emotive syntax), thus indicating the interpretation of the facts in the news item that
follows.
a) Brief news items. The function of a brief news item is to inform the reader. It states
only facts without giving comments.
Newspaper style has its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive
use of:
1. Special political and economic terms;
2. Non-term political vocabulary;
3. Newspaper cliché;
4. Abbreviations;
5. Neologisms.
The following grammatical peculiarities of brief news items are of paramount
importance, and may be regarded as grammatical parameters of newspaper style:
1. Complex sentences with a developed system of clauses;
2. Verbal constructions;
3. Syntactical complexes;
4. Attributive noun groups;
5. Specific word order.
The headline is the title given to a news item of a newspaper article. The main function of
the headline is to inform the reader briefly of what the news that follows is about. [25. 126]
The function of advertisement and announcement is to inform the reader. There are 2
basic types of advertisements and announcements in the modern English newspaper: classified
and non-classified (separate). In classified advertisements and announcements various kinds of
information are arranged according to subject-matter into sections, each bearing an appropriate
name. As for the separate advertisements and announcements, the variety of language form and
subject-matter is so great that hardly any essential features common to all be pointed out.
33
Chapter II. Brief news items as a substyle of the newspaper style
The principal function of a brief news items is to inform the reader. It states facts without
giving explicit comments, and whatever evaluation there is in news paragraphs is for the most
part implicit and as a rule unemotional. News items are essentially matter-of-fact, and
stereotyped forms of expression prevail. As an invariant, the language of brief news items is
stylistically neutral, which seems to be in keeping with the allegedly neutral and unbiased nature
of newspaper reporting; in practice, however, departures from this principle of stylistic neutrality
(especially in the so-called "mass papers") are quite common.
It goes without saying that the bulk of the vocabulary used in newspaper writing is
neutral and common literary. But apart from this, newspaper style has its specific vocabulary
features and is characterized by an extensive use of:
a) Special political and economic terms, for example: constitution, president, apartheid,
by-election, General Assembly, gross output, per capita production.
b) Non-term political vocabulary, for example: public, people, progressive, nation-wide,
unity, peace, A characteristic feature of political vocabulary is that the border line between terms
and non-terms is less distinct than in the vocabulary of other special fields. The semantic
structure of some words comprises terms and non-terms, for example: nation, crisis, agreement,
member, representative, and leader.
c) Newspaper clichés, stereotyped expressions, commonplace phrases familiar to the
reader, for example: vital issue, pressing problem, informed sources, danger of war, to escalate a
war, war hysteria, overwhelming majority, amid stormy applause. Clichés more than anything
else reflect the traditional manner of expression in newspaper writing. They are commonly
looked upon as a defect of style. Indeed, some clichés, especially those based on trite images (for
example: captains of industry, pillars of society, bulwark of civilization) are pompous and
hackneyed, others, such as welfare state, affluent society, are false and misleading. But
nevertheless, clichés are indispensable in newspaper style: they prompt the necessary
associations and prevent ambiguity and misunderstanding.
d) Abbreviations. News items, press reports and headlines abound in abbreviations of
various kinds. Among them abbreviated terms— names of organizations, public and state bodies,
political associations, industrial and other companies, various offices, etc.—known by their
initials are very common, for example: UNO (United Nations Organization), TUG (Trades
Union Congress), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), AFL-CIO (American Federation
of Labour-Congress of Industrial Organizations), EEC (European Economic Community),
TGWU (Transport and General Workers Union), FO (Foreign Office), PIB (Prices and Incomes
Board).
34
e) Neologisms. These are very common in newspaper vocabulary. The newspaper is very
quick to react to any new development in the life of society, in science and technology. Hence,
neologisms make their way into the language of the newspaper very easily and often even spring
up on newspaper pages, for example: lunik, a splash-down (the act of bringing a spacecraft to a
water surface), a teach-in (a form of campaigning through heated political discussion), backlash
or white backlash (a violent reaction of American racists to the Negroes' struggle for civil rights),
frontlash (a vigorous antiracist movement), stop-go policies (contradictory, indecisive and
inefficient policies).
The above-listed peculiarities of brief news items are the basic vocabulary parameters of
English newspaper style. [27. 81]
The vocabulary of brief news items is for the most part devoid of emotional colouring.
Some papers, however, especially those classed among "mass" or "popular" papers, tend to
introduce emotionally coloured lexical units into essentially matter-of-fact news stories, for
example:
"Health Minister Kenneth Robinson made this shock announcement yesterday in the
Commons."
"Technicians at the space base here are now working flat out to prepare Gemini 6 for
next Monday's blast-off."
"Defence Secretary Roy Mason yesterday gave a rather frosty reception in the Commons
to the latest proposal for a common defence policy for all EEC countries."
Important as vocabulary is, it is not so much the words and phrases used in brief news
items that distinguish them from other forms of newspaper writing. The vocabulary groups listed
above are also commonly found in headlines and newspaper articles. The basic peculiarities of
news items lie in their syntactical structure.
As the reporter is obliged to be brief, he naturally tries to cram all his facts into the space
allotted. This tendency predetermines the peculiar composition of brief news items and the
syntactical structure of the sentences. The size of brief news items varies from one sentence to
several (short) paragraphs. And generally, the shorter the news item, the more complex its
syntactical structure.
The following grammatical peculiarities of brief news items are of paramount
importance, and may be regarded as their grammatical parameters.
a) Complex sentences with a developed system of clauses, for example:
"Mr. Boyd-Carpenter, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster-General (Kingstonupon-Thames), said he had been asked what was meant by the statement in the Speech that the
position of war pensioners and those receiving national insurance benefits would be kept under
35
close review."
"There are indications that BOAC may withdraw - threats of all-out dismissals for pilots
who restrict flying hours, a spokesman for the British Airline Pilots' association said yesterday,"
b) Verbal constructions (infinitive, participial, gerundial) and verbal noun constructions,
for example:
"Mr. Nobusuke Kishi, the former Prime Minister of Japan, has sought to set an example
to the faction-ridden Governing Liberal Democratic Party by announcing the disbanding of his
own faction numbering 47 of the total of 295 conservative members of the Lower House of the
Diet."
c) Syntactical complexes, especially the nominative with the infinitive. These
constructions are largely used to avoid mentioning the source of information or to shun
responsibility for the facts reported, for example:
"The condition of Lord Samuel, aged 92, was said last night to be a 'little better.'"
"A petrol bomb is believed to have been exploded against the grave of Cecil Rhodes in
the Matopos."
d) Attributive noun groups are another powerful means of effecting brevity in news
items, for example: 'heart swap patient' (Morning Star), 'the national income and expenditure
figures' (The Times), 'Labour backbench decision' (Morning Star), 'Mr. Wilson's HMS fearless
package deal' (Morning Star).
e) Specific word-order. Newspaper tradition, coupled with the rigid rules of sentence
structure in English, has greatly affected the word-order of brief news items. The word-order in
one-sentence news paragraphs and in what are called "leads" (the initial sentences in longer news
items) is more or less fixed. Journalistic practice has developed what is called the "five-w-and-hpattern rule" (who-what-why-how-where-when) and for a long time strictly adhered to it. In
terms of grammar this fixed sentence structure may be expressed in the following manner:
Subject—Predicate (+Object)—Adverbial modifier of reason (manner) — Adverbial modifier of
place-Adverbial modifier of time, for example:
"A neighbour's peep through a letter box led to the finding of a woman dead from gas and
two others semiconscious in a block of council flats in Eccles New Road, Salford, Lanes
yesterday."
It has been repeatedly claimed by the authors of manuals of journalistic writing that the
"five-w-and-h" structure was the only right pattern of sentence structure to use in news reports.
Facts, however, disprove this contention. Statistics show that there are approximately as many
cases in which the traditional word-order is violated as those in which it is observed. It is now
obvious that the newspaper has developed new sentence patterns not typical of other styles. This
36
observation refers, firstly, to the position of the adverbial-modifier of definite time. Compare
another pattern typical of brief news sentence structure:
"Derec Heath, 43, yesterday left Falmouth for the third time in his attempt to cross the
Atlantic in a 12ft dinghy."
"Brighton council yesterday approved а Ј 22,500 schemes to have parking meters
operating in the centre of the town by March."
This and some other unconventional sentence patterns have become a common practice
with brief news writers. [28. 98]
There is some other, though less marked, tendencies in news item writing of modifying
well-established grammatical norms. Mention should be made of occasional disregard for the
sequence of tenses rule, for example:
"The committee —which was investigating the working of the 1969 Children and Young
Persons Act — said that some school children in remand centers are getting only two hours
lessons a day."
What is ordinarily looked upon as a violation of grammar rules in any other kind of
writing appears to be a functional peculiarity of newspaper style.
English newspaper writing dates from the 17th century. The first newspapers carried only
news, without comments, as commenting was considered to be against the principles of
journalism. By the 19th century, newspaper language was recognized as a particular variety of
style, characterized by a specific communicative purpose and its own system of language means.
It includes a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means serving
the purpose of informing, instructing and, in addition, of entertaining the reader. As a result of
this diversity of purposes, newspapers contain not only strictly informational, but also evaluative
material – comments and views of the news-writers, especially characteristic of editorials and
feature articles.
37
II.1. The function of a brief news item
The function of a brief news item is to inform the reader. It states only facts without
giving comments.
Since the primary function of a newspaper is to impart information, only printed matter
serving this purpose comes under newspaper language variety. Such matter can be classed as:
1. Brief news items and communiqués;
2. Press reports (parliamentary, of court proceedings, etc.);
3. Articles purely informational in character;
4. Advertisements and announcements.
The function of brief news items, communiqués and reports is to inform the reader. They
state only facts without giving commentary. This accounts for the total absence of any
individuality of expression and the lack of emotional colouring. The vocabulary used here is
neutral and common literary. It is essentially matter-of-fact, and stereotypical forms of
expression prevail. But apart from this, a newspaper has its specific vocabulary that can be found
in its other features – editorials, articles, and advertisements. [29. 137]
As the newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion on various social, political or
moral matters, its language frequently contains vocabulary with evaluative connotation, such as
to allege (the person who allegedly committed the crime), to claim (the defendant claims to
know nothing about it). These cast some doubt on what is stated further and make it clear to the
reader that those are not yet affirmed facts.
Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very selection and way of presenting the
news, not only in the use of specific vocabulary but in syntactic constructions indicating a lack of
surety on the part of the reporter as to the correctness of the facts reported or his/her desire to
avoid responsibility, e.g., Mr. J Brown was said to have opposed the proposal. He was quoted as
saying…
The headlines of news items, apart from giving information about the subject-matter, also
carry a considerable amount of appraisal (the size and placement of the headline, the use of
emotionally coloured words and elements of emotive syntax), thus indicating an interpretation of
the facts in the news item that follows.
But the principle vehicle of interpretation and appraisal is the newspaper article, and the
editorial, in particular. Editorials (leading articles) are characterized by a subjective handling of
facts, political or otherwise, and therefore have more in common with political essays or articles
and should rather be classed as belonging to the publicistic style than to the newspaper.
However, newspaper publicistic writing bears the stamp of its own style. Though it seems
natural to consider newspaper articles, editorials included, as coming within the system of
38
English newspaper style, it is necessary to note that such articles are an intermediate
phenomenon characterized by a combination of styles – the newspaper style and the publicistic
style. In other words, they may be considered hybrids.
The general aim of the texts of modern newspaper style is to exert influence on public opinion,
to convince the reader that the interpretation given by the writer is the only correct one and to
cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the article not merely by logical
argumentation, but by emotional appeal as well.
This brainwashing function is most effective in press. Due to its characteristic
combination of logical argumentation and emotional appeal, the publicistic style of the texts of
modern newspaper style has features in common with the style of scientific prose or official
documents, on the one hand, and that of emotive prose, on the other. It’s coherent and logical
syntactic structure, with an expanded system of connectives and its careful paragraphing, makes
it similar to scientific prose. Its emotional appeal is generally achieved by the use of words with
emotive meaning, the use of imagery and other stylistic devices as in emotive prose.
39
II.2. Specific vocabulary features of a brief news items
Newspaper style has its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive
use of:
1. Special political and economic terms;
2. Non-term political vocabulary;
3. Newspaper cliché;
4. Abbreviations;
5. Neologisms.
The following grammatical peculiarities of brief news items are of paramount
importance, and may be regarded as grammatical parameters of newspaper style:
1. Complex sentences with a developed system of clauses;
2. Verbal constructions;
3. Syntactical complexes;
4. Attributive noun groups;
5. Specific word order.
Not all the printed matter found in newspapers comes under newspaper style. The modern
newspaper carries material of an extremely diverse character. On the pages of a newspaper one
finds not only news and comments on it, but also stories and poems, crossword puzzles, and the
like. Since these serve the purpose of entertaining the reader, they cannot be considered
specimens of newspaper style. Nor can articles in special fields, such as science and technology,
art, literature, etc. be classed as belonging to newspaper style. The bulk of the vocabulary used in
newspaper writing is neutral and literary. But it has as well its specific features such as the
intensive use of:
a) Special political and economic terms, for example, stability, elections, anti-terror war,
military facilities, terrorist network, opinion polls, human rights, budget deficit, immigration,
presidential vote, race, opponent, business, security, to devastate, blast.
b) Non-term political words, for example, officials, hostages, kidnappers, protest,
breakdown, regime, local terror cells, popularity rating, and emergency anti-terror funding. A
characteristic feature of political vocabulary is that the borderline between terms and non-terms
is less distinct than in the vocabulary of other special fields. The semantic structure of some
words comprises terms and non-terms, for example, crisis, agreement, progressive, nationwide,
unity.
c) Lofty, bookish words including certain phrases based on metaphors and thus
emotionally coloured, for example,: war hysteria, escalation of war, overwhelming majority, a
storm of applause, post attack cleanup, global hunt for terrorists, and a shot of power.
40
d) Newspaper clichés, stereotyped expressions, commonplace phrases familiar to the
reader, for example, public opinion, free markets, long-term agreements, a melting pot, to cast a
veto over, crucial/pressing problems, zero tolerance, political correctness, to go postal (extremely
hostile).
Clichés more than anything else reflect the traditional manner of expression in newspaper
writing. They are commonly looked upon as a defect of style.
Some clichés, especially those based on trite images, for example, captains of industry,
pillars of society, bulwark of civilization are pompous and hackneyed. But nevertheless, clichés
are indispensable in newspaper style: they prompt the necessary associations and prevent
ambiguity and misunderstanding. [17. 79]
e) Abbreviations. News items, press reports and headlines are full of abbreviations of
various kinds. Among them abbreviated terms – names of organizations, public and state bodies,
political associations, industrial and other companies, various offices, etc. known by their initials
are very common; for example, EU (European Union), UNO (United Nations Organization),
WTO (World Trade Organization), EEC ( European Economic Community), CNN (Cable News
Network), BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), CEO (Chief Executive Officer), MBA
(Master of Business Administration), DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), BAC (Blood Alcohol
Concentration). The widespread use of initials in newspaper language has been expanded to the
names of persons constantly in the public eye, and one can find references to LBJ (Lyndon
Baines Johnson), JFK (John Fitzgerald Kennedy), W/Dubya (George W. Bush). Sometimes the
whole statements are referred to by their initials, for example, WYSIWYG (What you see is
what you get), FAQ (Frequently asked questions), BTW (By the way), 9/11 or 9–11 (September
11, 2001).
f) Neologisms. They are very common in newspaper vocabulary. The newspaper is very
quick to react to any new development in the life of society, in science and technology. Hence,
neologisms make their way into the language of the newspaper very easily and often even spring
up on newspaper pages. Now, in the early 21st century, neologisms relating to computers and the
Internet outnumber all others, for example, cyber sickness (a feeling of illness caused by using a
computer for long periods of time), keypal (someone with whom one regularly exchanges email), online auction, access provider, MP3, PDA (Personal digital assistant), animatronics.
Finance has also launched numerous new words, such as dead cat bounce (a situation in
which the price of shares rises a small amount after a large fall, sometimes before falling
further), stealth tax (a tax that you pay on something that you buy rather than tax you pay
directly to the government, and which you are less aware of paying than, for example, direct tax
on your income). Sometimes finance and computers come together, as with dot-com (a person or
41
a company whose business is done using the Internet), e-cash (money that can be used to buy
things on the Internet, but that does not exist in a physical form or belong to any particular
country).
As we speak about the specific vocabulary features of a brief news items we can say that
many new words have come from medicine and biological science, for example, biologically
engineered, genetically modified; from the world of business: benchmark (to use a company’s
good performance as a standard by which to judge the performance of other companies of the
same type), best practice (a description of the best way of performing a particular activity in
business).
g) Foreign words. These have come from different languages. Some are traditionally used
in newspaper writing, others have recently come from the areas of new technology (computers,
Internet, business, entertainment and changes in society), for example, beaucoup (= a lot of
money; from French); ad hoc (= specialized; from Latin); bona fide (= real, true and not intended
to deceive somebody (from Latin): I wanted to prove my bona fides; curriculum vitae (CV) (=
resume; from Latin); sine qua non (= something that you must have; from Latin); carte blanche
(= complete freedom; from French); nouveau riche (= someone who has only recently become
rich and spends a lot of money; from French); tкte-а-tкte (= a private conversation; from
French); glitch (= a small fault in working of something; from German); macho (= a man who is
always trying to show that he is strong, brave; from Spanish); schlock (= careless work / odd
jobs, catchpenny job; from Yiddish). [21. 10]
The above-listed peculiarities of brief news items are vocabulary parameters used in an
English newspaper. These vocabulary groups are also commonly found in headlines and
newspaper articles. They are generally devoid of any emotional colouring. But some popular
papers tend to introduce emotionally coloured elements into the matter-of-fact, linguistically
neutral news items, e.g., In Ohio, O’Gara-Hess and Eisenhardt Armoring Co. says it is flush with
new orders to crank out 300 “up-armoured” Humvees per month. (Newsweek, 2004);
Health Minister made his shock announcement in the Commons.
Important as vocabulary is, it is not so much the words and phrases used in brief news
items that distinguish them from other forms of newspaper writing. The basic peculiarities of
item news lie in their syntactic structure. As the reporter is obliged to be brief, he naturally tries
to cram all his facts into the space allotted. This tendency predetermines the peculiar
composition of brief items and the syntactical structure of the sentences. The size of brief items
varies from one sentence to several short paragraphs. And generally, the shorter the news item,
the more complex its syntactical structure.
42
The modern newspaper style carries material of an extremely diverse character. On the
pages of a newspaper one finds not only news and comments on it, press reports and articles,
advertisements and announcements, but also stories and poems, crossword puzzles, chess
problems and the like. It is newspaper printed matter that performs the function of informing the
reader and providing him with evaluation of the information published. In fact, all kinds of
newspaper writing are to a greater or lesser degree both informative and evaluative.
The newspaper style also has some elements of emotionally coloured colloquial style as
the author has no need to make their speech impersonal (as in scientific or official style), but, on
the contrary, he or she tries to approximate the text to lively communication, as though they were
talking to people in direct contact.
Today the English language is widely spoken throughout the world. It is the language of
21st century the language of informative technologies, so while describing the English language;
first of all it should be underlined that the English language is the mother tongue of the global
media. To understand English clearly one should know not only its standard vocabulary but also
its different styles, dialects, proverbs, sayings, phrasal verbs and idioms, as they are used in any
sphere: books, films, newspapers, formal speeches. One, looking through some papers,
magazines and journals, will discover the same language to sound quite different, because he
will find familiar words with unfamiliar meanings. He will face idioms, phrasal verbs etc.
Besides, knowing the standard English perfectly one may have difficulties in
understanding for instance American English, as many factors, such as culture, the natives'
language, slang, migration and development of the same language apart in dissimilar conditions,
cause many changes in the same English language.
The focus of this chapter is to represent specific vocabulary features of a brief news
items, we paid attention also idioms in British and American newspapers. Moreover, the research
shows information on history of English language newspapers, as well as on idioms.
English newspaper writing dates from the 17th century. The first newspaper carried only
news, without comments, as commenting was considered to be against the principals of
journalism. By the 19th century, newspaper language was recognized as a particular variety of
style, characterized by a specific communicative purpose and its own system of language means.
[18. 89]
It includes a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means serving
the purpose of informing, instructing and, in addition, of entertaining the reader. The modern
newspaper carries material of extremely diverse character. On the pages of a newspaper one can
find not only news and comments on it, but also stories and poems, crossword puzzles and the
like.
43
Thus we can point out two main functions of the newspaper:
1. Informative
2. Entertaining
In order to make the article sound lively and impressive the author enriches the writing
with idioms and a like.
An idiom is a phrase where the words together have meaning that is different from the
dictionary definitions of the individual words. It is a phrase whose meaning cannot be made
sense of from the literal definition, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only
through common use, that is an expression in the usage of the language that has a meaning that
two or more that means something other the literal meanings of its individual words.
Ex. Between a rock and a hard place: stuck between two very bad options.
My coarse paper consists of the following chapters: Idioms general characteristics and the
usage of idioms in newspaper style.
We stated the definitions of idioms by different scholars, their origin, and the semantic
and syntactic structure of idioms. We have also discussed the usage of idioms in American and
British language.
Idioms are found in every language and learning them is an important aspect of mastery
of language. The English language is no exception as it contains a large number of idioms, which
are extensively used. However, because of their rigid structure and quite unpredictable meaning,
idioms are often considered difficult to learn. John Seed defines an idiom as words collocated
together happen to become fossilized, becoming fixed over time. This collocation -- words
commonly used in a group -- changes the definition of each of the words that exist. As an
expression, the word-group becomes a team, so to speak. That is, the collocated words develop a
specialized meaning as a whole and an idiom is born.
An idiom is a group of words in which the meaning of this group is different than what
would be expected. If the actual words of an idiom were understood as they appear, the entire
meaning would be changed and the group of words would make no sense in its context as if it
was understood as to be an idiom. When a person uses an idiom, the listener might take the
actual meaning wrong if he or she has not heard this figure of speech before. In someone's native
language, idioms may be a natural part of speaking. Thus an idiom is not really considered to be
set in a language. They are more in one's culture.
Idioms are mostly for just one language. In some cases, when an idiom is translated into
another language the meaning of the idiom is changed or does not make any sense as it once did
in another language. Idioms are probably the hardest thing for a person to learn in the process of
learning a new language. This is because most people grow up using idioms as if their true
44
meanings actually make sense. In the English expression «to kick the bucket«, for example, a
listener knowing only the meaning of kick and bucket would be unable to deduce the
expression's actual meaning, which is to die. Although it can refer literally to the act of striking a
specific bucket with a foot, native speakers rarely use it that way.
Another kind of idiom is the use of a single word to have multiple meanings, sometimes
at the same time, and sometimes one meaning to be discerned from context. This can be seen in
the (mostly uninflected) English language in polysemes, the common use of the same word for
an ability, for those engaged in it, the product, place, or time of an activity, and sometimes for a
verb. Idioms tend to confuse those not already familiar with them; students of a new language
must learn its idiomatic expressions the way they learn its other vocabulary. Many natural
language words have idiomatic origins, but have been sufficiently assimilated so that their
figurative senses have been lost.
As a specific vocabulary features of brief news items an idiom is generally a colloquial
metaphor -- a term which requires some foundational knowledge, information, or experience, to
use only within a culture where parties must have common reference. [19. 109]
According to Stephen Cramley idiom is defined as « a complex item which is longer than
a word- form but shorter then a sentence and which has a meaning that cannot be derived from
the knowledge of its component parts».
Raymond W. Gibbs suggests another definition of idiom according to which « by the
term idiom the speaker should learn «dead» metaphors and speech gambits by arbitrarily pairing
each phrase some non - literal meaning without any awareness of why these phrases mean what
they do».
Gill Philip stated that « idioms are class of multy -word units which pose a challenge to
our understanding of grammar and lexics that hasn't yet been fully met».
Charles Hocket (1958) consider idiom «as a modern linguistic agreement on one
composed of two or more constituent parts generally deemed to be words. The closer the
wording of an idiom reflects a real world situation the easier it is to interpret».
However some idioms can be more universally used than others, and they can be easily
translated, metaphorical meaning can be more easily deduced. While many idioms are clearly
based in conceptual metaphors such as "time as a substance", "time as a path", "love as war" or
"up is more", the idioms themselves are often not particularly essential, even when the metaphors
themselves are. For example, "spend time", "battle of the sexes", and "back in the day" are
idiomatic and based in essential metaphors. In forms like "profits are up", the metaphor is carried
by "up" itself. The phrase "profits are up" is not itself an idiom. Practically anything measurable
45
can be used in place of "profits": "crime is up", "satisfaction is up", "and complaints are up" etc.
Truly essential idioms generally involve prepositions, for example "out of" or "turn into".
It is said that if that natural language had been designed by a logician, idioms would not
exist. They are indivisible units whose component cannot be varied or varied only within
definable limits. Idioms are comparatively stable and semantically inseparable. The essential
feature idioms are lack of motivation. This term (idiom) habitually used by English and
American linguistics is very often treated as synonymous with the term phrasiological unit.
Phrasiological units are habitually defined as non - motivated word - groups that cannot
be freely made up in speech but are reproduced as ready - made units. Phraseological units are
comparatively stable and semantically inseparable. «idioms vary in `transparency': that is
whether their meaning can be derived from the literal meanings of the individual words. For
example, make up [one’s] mind is rather transparent in suggesting the meaning `reach a decision
' while kick the bucket is representing the meaning `die».
A.I. Smirnitsky worked out structural classification of phraseological units, comparing
them with words. He points out one-top units which he compares with derived words because
derived words have only one root morpheme. He points out two-top units which he compares
with compound words because in compound words we usually have two root morphemes.
Among one-top units he points out three structural types; a) units of the type «to give up» (verb
+ postposition type), for example, to art up, to back up, to drop out, to nose out, to buy into, to
sandwich in etc.; b) units of the type «to be tired».
Some of these units remind the Passive Voice in their structure but they have different
prepositions with them, while in the Passive Voice we can have only prepositions «by»
or»with», for example, «to be tired of», «to be interested in», «to be surprised at» etc. There are
also units in this type which remind free word-groups of the type»to be young», for example, «to
be akin to», «to be aware of» etc. The difference between them is that the adjective «young» can
be used as an attribute and as a predicative in a sentence, while the nominal component in such
units can act only as a predicative. [20. 165]
In these units the verb is the grammar centre and the second component is the semantic
centre; c) prepositional- nominal phraseological units. These units are equivalents of
unchangeable words: prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs, that is why they have no grammar
centre, their semantic centre is the nominal part, for example, on the doorstep (quite near), on the
nose (exactly), in the course of, on the stroke of, in time, on the point of etc. In the course of time
such units can become words, for example, tomorrow, instead etc.
Among two-top units as a specific vocabulary features of a brief news items A.I.
Smirnitsky points out the following structural types:
46
a) attributive-nominal such as: «a month of Sundays», «grey matter», «a millstone round
one's neck» and many others. Units of this type are noun equivalents and can be partly or
perfectly idiomatic. In partly idiomatic units (phrasems) sometimes the first component is
idiomatic, for example, «high road», in other cases the second component is idiomatic, for
example, first night. In many cases both components are idiomatic, for example, red tape, blind
alley, bed of nail, shot in the arm and many others.
b) verb-nominal phraseological units, for example, «to read between the lines», «to speak
BBC», «to sweep under the carpet» etc. The grammar centre of such units is the verb; the
semantic centre in many cases is the nominal component, for example, to fall in love. In some
units the verb is both the grammar and the semantic centre, for example, not to know the ropes.
These units can be perfectly idiomatic as well, for example, «to burn one's boats», «to vote with
one's feet», «to take to the cleaners» etc. Very close to such units are word-groups of the type «to
have a glance», «to have a smoke». These units are not idiomatic and are treated in grammar as a
special syntactical combination, a kind of aspect.
c) phraseological repetitions, such as : «now or never», «part and parcel» , «country and
western» etc. Such units can be built on antonyms, for example, «ups and downs» , «back and
forth»; often they are formed by means of alliteration, for example, «cakes and ale», «as busy as
a bee». Components in repetitions are joined by means of conjunctions. These units are
equivalents of adverbs or adjectives and have no grammar centre. They can also be partly or
perfectly idiomatic, for example, «cool as a cucumber» (partly), «bread and butter» (perfectly).
As a specific vocabulary features of a brief news items we can say that phraseological
units the same as compound words can have more than two tops (stems in compound words), for
example, «to take a back seat», «a peg to hang a thing on», «to be a shaddow of one's own self»,
«at one's own sweet will».
The essential features of idioms are stability of the lexical components and lack of
motivation. Lexical stability means that the components of set expressions are either
irreplaceable like «red tape»or partly replaceable or partly replaceable within the bounds of
phraseological or phraseomatic variance (a skeleton in the cupboard or a skeleton in the closet).
It is consequently assumed that unlike components of free word - groups which may vary
according to the needs of communication, member words of idioms are always reproduced as
single unchangeable collocations.
Phraseological units can be also classified according to the degree of motivation of their
meaning. Ginsburg stated that there are three types of phraseological units:
a) Phraseological fusions are completely non- motivated word- groups. They are highly
idiomatic and cannot be translated word for word into other languages, the meaning of the
47
components has no connection, for example, on Shank's mare - (on foot), at sixes and sevens (in a mess) etc;
b) Phraseological unities which are partially non motivated as their meaning can usually
be perceived through the metaphoric meaning of the whole phraseological unit, for example, to
play the first fiddle (to be a leader in something), old salt (experienced sailor) etc;
c) Phraseological collocations are motivated but they are made up of words possessing
specific lexical valency which accounts for a certain degree of stability in such word groups. For
example, cash and carry - (self-service shop), in a big way (in great degree) etc.
These habitual collocations tend to become kind of clichés, where the meaning of
member words is to some extent dominated by the meaning of the whole group. However, it is a
difficult task to set a boundary between idioms and non- idioms. When confronted with fixed
expressions like clichés or proverbs, they often seem to have idiomatic qualities and no clear line
presents itself as to when one cannot be another. The criterion of non- compositionality does not
always give clear delineation either. Let's take the proverb «every rose has its thorn». On one
hand its meaning is quite compositional - it actually refers to roses having thorns. But when it
metaphorically applies to non - rose situations meaning something beautiful or good has its own
downsides.
Anyway an idiom should be correctly distinguished from clichés. A cliché is a saying,
expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of loosing its intended force of novelty,
especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel, rendering it a
stereotype. The term is likely used in a negative context. It is frequently used in modern culture
to reference an action or idea that is expected or predictable based on a prior event. It can be
argued that the `negative usage of the term cliché in order to belittle an idea or an expression'
itself is becoming a cliché. [4. 56]
Individual wards in an idiom cannot be replaced by synonyms and still retain the
idiomatic reading of the phrase. This is what qualifies them as fixed forms.
The fact that the wards of the idioms are fixed is what makes the idioms, firs of all. So the
fixed state of idioms is quality which not only characterizes them, but also proves idioms to be
internally structured lexical items.
A word-group which defies word by word translation is consequently described as
idiomatic. Unlike idioms (phraseological units), proverbs, sayings and quotations do not always
function as ward equivalents. They exist as ready- made expressions with a specialized meaning
of their own, which cannot be inferred from the meaning of their components taken singly.
Idioms are mostly based on metaphors which make the transferred meaning of the whole
expression more or less transparent.
48
As a specific vocabulary features of brief news items an idiom has a non-compositional
form that is, its meaning cannot be compositionally computed from its parts. This suggests that
the way many idioms had found their way into language is as dead metaphors. Secondly the bulk
of idioms never function in speech as word equivalents which are a proof of their semantic and
grammatical inseparability. It is also suggested that the idioms in general have very much in
common with quotations from literary sources, some of which also exist as idiomatic readymade units with a specialized meaning of their own. Such quotations which have acquired
specialized meaning and idiomatic value as to be or not to be differ little from proverbs and
sayings which may also be regarded as quotation from English folklore and are part of this
particular branch of literary studies.
However quotations differ from proverbs in their origin. They come from literature but
by and by become part and parcel of the language, so that many people using them don't even
know that they are quoting. Quotations from classical sources were once a recognized feature of
public speech. Accordingly some quotations are so often used that they become clichés.
Ginsburg also suggests that pharseological units should be subdivided into phrasemes and
idioms according to whether or not one of the components of the whole word- group possesses
specialized meaning. Idioms are distinguished from phrasemes by the idiomaticity of the whole
word -group and the impossibility of attaching meaning to the members of the group taken
isolated. Idioms are semantically and grammatically inseparable units. Idioms made up of words
normally brought together are homonymous with corresponding veliable ward groups «to let the
cat out of the bag»- to divulge a secret, and the clue of idiomatic meaning is to be found in a
wider context outside the phrase itself.
We should note that idioms have no social boundaries or limitations as they exist in all
cultures and classes of the society as well as in all languages. Idioms are a part of each language
and cannot be described apart from the given language.
Biblical references are also the source of many idioms. Sports terms, technical terms,
legal terms, military slang and even nautical expressions have found their way to everyday use of
English language.
Nowadays American English is in this position. It is hard to find an American English
idiom that has not established itself in « worldwide English» (usually British English).
`Idioms are constantly dying and new ones are born. Some idioms may have gone
through radical changes in meaning. The phrase - There is no love lost between them - nowadays
means that some people dislike one another. Originally, when there was the British English form,
it meant exactly the opposite. The shift in meaning is yet unexplained. All dialects of English
have different sets of idioms and situations where a given idiom can be used.
49
English is a language particularly rich in idioms - those modes of expression peculiar to a
language (or dialect) which frequently defy logical and grammatical rules. The background and
etymological origins of most idioms is at best obscure. This is the reason why a study of
differences between the idioms of American English and British English is rather difficult. New
idioms originate in the U.S and then become popular in so called «worldwide English». This new
situation is completely different from the birth of American English as a `variant' of British
English. Here are some examples which are used in either American or British English some
used in both;
«Having won the first two Tests, Australia is now almost certain to retain the Ashes».
(Ashes is a British English idiom that is nowadays a well established cricket term); to have the
edge on/over someone is originally an American English idiom, now established in almost every
other form of English, including British English; «a happy hunting ground» - place where one
often goes to obtain something or to make money, originally was an American English idiom.
It has to be said that in the old days English idioms rarely originated from any other form
of English than British English. Nowadays American English is in this position. Some examples
of early American English idioms are «to bark up the wrong tree» or «to paddle one's own
canoe». They were derived from the speech of the American natives, like the phrase «someone
speaks with a forked tongue» and «the happy hunting ground». These idioms have filtered to
British English through centuries through books, newspapers, and most recently through
powerful mediums like radio, television and movies. [30. 87]
British idioms which are used in newspaper style are actually more familiar to other
Europeans than to Americans even though the language is the same. The reason for all these
facts is that Britain is not the world power it used to be and it must be said that the United States
have taken the role of the leading nation in the development of language, media and popular
culture.
To explore evaluation in texts of newspaper style is of great interest in various ways.
Firstly, texts of newspaper style are one of the genres that we interact with most frequently.
Although an evaluative item basically consists of one word, it may well happen that it is a
unit or a phrase rather than a single word.
The journalists' position is indicated by their choice of words, namely nouns, adjectives
and adverbials, as well as the register to which they belong (formal, informal, literary). At verb
level, the choice of transitive or intransitive verbs as well as the use of active or passive
constructions indicates whether the people described in the article are presented as initiating or
merely witnessing events and actions, while nominalizations can strengthen or reduce the effects
50
of the actions themselves. The use of modal verbs points to the way in which the actions are
presented - desirable, possible, probable, etc.
The way in which people presented in the article are called as well as the way in which
they are quoted also indicates the journalist's position. J. Richardson and N. Fairclough state that
quotations and the way in which they are given are important, as they provide the perspective
from which the readers will understand the story.
According to N. Fairclough both the reporting verbs are important (for example, declared,
acknowledged, admitted, etc.) and the way in which people's words are rendered: direct
quotation, summaries of the quotation (presenting the gist of the speaker's words) and
formulations of it (which actually interpret what the speaker said).
At sentence level the way in which the information is structured indicates once more the
journalist's position: the use of topicalization, which moves to front position the element to be
emphasized, (for example, Music, he loved), or various mitigation devices (such as adverbials
for instance), which soften the propositional content (for example, He merely wanted to help).
In sentences (clause complexes), main clauses generally foreground information, whereas
subordinate clauses generally background it. This is especially so when the main clause precedes
a subordinate clause, which indicated that foregrounding and back grounding are strategies to
which journalists resort in order to emphasize or de-emphasize information.
At text level the images used to describe the situation also have an evaluative value. The
overall text organization is also linked to evaluation - for example repetitions, parallel structures,
paragraph sequence. In newspapers articles the lead, which is the summary of the article which
answers the questions who, what, where, when, how, is defined by Bell as fulfilling a double
function - it summarizes the events and focuses them in a particular direction; it is a focus of
evaluation as it indicates the author's position.
So, evaluation is one of the peculiarities of the newspaper style that is needed to be
studied and analyzed on the text level.
In this place we’d like to investigate about the nature and the main features of repetitions
in the newspaper style.
Another specific vocabulary feature of brief news items is repetition. Repetition in brief
news items is used as the simple repeating of a word, within a sentence or a poetical line, with no
particular placement of the words, in order to emphasize. This is such a common literary device
that it is almost never even noted as a figure of speech. Leech and Short describe formal
repetition as «repeated use of an expression (morpheme, lexical item, proper name, phrase, etc.),
which has already occurred in the context».
51
Repetition is a stylistic device, the essence of which is to repeat one and the same word or
phrase, aiming to add more expressiveness to the utterance.
In brief news items repetition of the same content word across a text or paragraph is the
simplest, most basic meaning link between vocabularies. The easiest way to connect information
or an idea across a text through lexical cohesion is to repeat the same word. Repetition is also
defines as the basic variety of stylistic figures of addition. So we can define repetition as the use
of the same words, synonyms, morphemes, sounds or syntactical constructions a few times and
within noticeable distance.
Since such disciplines as linguistics and literary stylistics have appeared, the investigators
have been searching for the answers on the problems of repetition and its classification. The
interest to this phenomenon is constantly growing, as more and more works are dedicated to the
topic of repetition. Repetition can be lexical and syntactical (including anaphora, epiphora,
anadiplosis, framing constructions, syntactical tautology, etc.).
Lexical repetition, I.R. Galperin writes, is defined as the repetition of a word or a phrase
in the structure of one utterance (it can be a sentence, complicated syntactical structure, a
paragraph) and within the bigger units of communication, including a number of utterances (for
example, a text). The distance between the repeated units and the quantity of repetitions can be
different, but it is obligatory that the repetition could be noticeable by the reader. If the repetition
doesn't go with the use of polysemantic function, then its function may be intensifying, or
emotional, or intensifying-emotional. [9. 154]
Repetition as a stylistic device is the typical generalization of linguistic means of
expressing excited condition, which could be expressed by different means, depending on the
degree and the character of the excitement. The speech can be sublime, passionate, nervous,
touched, etc. The excited speech is notable for fragmentariness, sometimes for illogicality, for
repetition of separate parts of the utterance. Moreover, the repetitions of the words and phrases
(such as fragmentariness and illogicality of the structure) are appropriate in the emotional excited
speech. They don't have any stylistic function.
Repetition includes all words with the same content meaning even if their forms are
different, like those indicating different word classes, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and
adverbs.
For example, psychology, psychology, psychology is the repetition of the same word of
the same meaning in the same form; psychology psychological psychologically is the repetition
of the same word of the same meaning in the different forms.
Repetition can be used not only in stylistic aims; it can serve as the means of clarifying
the utterance and helps to avoid the obscurity of the narration.
52
Repetitions as a stylistic device have different functions within the texts or utterance. The
most common function of the repetition is the intensifying function. Repetition in this function as
a stylistic device stands near the repetitions as the norm of colloquial excited speech. Repetitions
with the intensifying function are usually simple in their composition: the repeated words are
situated near each other. Other functions of repetition are not connected with the emotional
meaning as in colloquial speech. Other functions of repetition are usually revealed in the context
of the utterance.
Another function of repetition, which is often used, is the function of increasing. Words
repetition promotes the greater power of the utterance, the greater intensity of the narration. This
function is similar to the intensifying function, but the difference is that increasing expresses the
gradation of increasing of the emotional power. In some cases repetition can fulfill the function
which contradicts the purpose of repetition as the means of distinguishing separate parts of the
utterance. The repeated units, words and phrases, serve as a background to distinguish the other,
unrepeated units of the utterance.
We should also mention the function of repetition, which is secondary, but it usually
accompanies the abovementioned functions of repetition. This is the rhythmical function.
Repetition of one and the same units (words, phrases or sentences) is conductive to the clearer
rhythmical organization of the sentence, getting the text closer to poetry.
So, we can make a conclusion that repetition is a complete stylistic device. The main
functions of repetitions in texts may be intensifying, increasing, expressive or persuasion. For
these aim words, word combinations or even sentences may be repeated within the text.
Repetitions as stylistic device play great role in the texts of media as means of persuasion.
Now we’d like to give some information about the role of stylistic means in the
newspaper style.
From the very beginning the headline catches the readers' attention because of the
unexpected coordination between the two nouns power and defectors: rebels gain power and
defectors.
The emphasis in the lead is on the rebels, presented as highly successful in their fight they have increasing military coordination and firepower, better leadership and more guns to
fight with. The defectors who joined the rebels are presented in a positive light - they support the
rebels and try to improve the rebels' military strategy (defecting officers in the east took steps to
establish a unified command).
The enumeration of weapons held by rebels indicate their strength their followers in this
rebel-held city, just outside the leader's stronghold in the capital, displayed tanks, Kalashnikovs
and antiaircraft guns. The use of the emphasize just indicates the rebels' close victory (just
53
outside the leader's stronghold in the capital): Zawiyah, Libya - The Libyan rebels challenging
Col. Muammar-el-Qaddafi demonstrated their increasing military coordination and firepower on
Sunday, as defecting officers in the east took steps to establish a unified command while their
followers in this rebel-held city, just outside the leader's stronghold in the capital, displayed
tanks, Kalashnikovs and antiaircraft guns.
The adjectives and adverbials chosen by the reporters indicate that their approve of the
rebels' actions: the rebels' military coordination is increasing, the command is unified, they give
further sign of their strength, they have growing power, they make a global effort to bring down
Colonel Qaddafi, they hold the town firmly, they become more confident in their power and
provide the most striking display of strength. The state of mind is of confidence, based on the
victories obtained so far and the residents of the city are gleeful: Gleeful residents invited
newcomers to clamber aboard one of several army tanks now in rebel hands. [31. 114]
The rebel army, ready to support the revolt in other Libyan cities is called national army.
The adjectives used for Colonel Qaddafi's forces indicate oppression and violence: his
forces mounted a deadly assault; he orders repeated attacks …to retake the city.
Therefore, while the adjectives used to describe the protesters carry positive connotations
(good management and firm control, thoughtful support of population, strong hope in the result
of the uprising), the ones used to describe the officials indicate negative connotation (violence
and death).
The signs of the battle fought by these forces are holes in the city's building and
ammunition that littered the central square, litter suggesting dirt. The violence of their attacks is
also suggested by the verb blast:
Several said that on Thursday the Qaddafi forces blasted peaceful protesters gathered in
the square with machine guns and artillery, pointing to holes in the sides of pillars and even a
mosque.
As far as nouns are concerned, there is an enumeration of professions used to describe the
rebels - they are doctors, lawyers, judges, engineers and the like - therefore respectful and
reliable professions, relating to the civil society. The enumeration describing the official forces
relates to the military - Colonel's Qaddafi's militias, plainclothes police and other paramilitary
forces, suggesting repression and violence. Later in the article these forces and called gangsters
(Qaddafi and his gangsters will not have a hand on them [revenues from the national oil
company] and Colonel Qaddafi is called an autocrat, as illustrated by the following passage:
…he has shed far more of his citizens' blood than any of the regions' other autocrats.
In conclusion there is a powerful lexical contrast between the two parties, as indicated by
the choice of nouns, adjectives and adverbs used to describe them.
54
D. Reah classifies verbs as actional (transitive and non-transitive), which are dynamic
and indicate control of the subject and relational, which are the copulative ones that indicate
qualities or states.
The majority of verbs used to describe the rebels are actional, a choice that reflects once
more the journalists' position - the rebels are in full control of their actions: they demonstrate
their increasing military coordination, they have repulsed repeated attempts by Colonel Qaddafi's
forces to retake the rebel-held cities, they are organizing public services and continued defence,
they mock Colonel Qaddafi's allegations.
55
Conclusion
The theme which we tried to investigate is “Brief news items as a substyle of the
newspaper style”. So in this work we dealt at first about newspaper style as a functional style.
Because, newspaper style plays the most important role in functional style. Stylistics will be
linguistics of the effects of the message, of the output of the act of communication, of its
attention compelling function.
In the English literary standard we distinguished the following major functional styles.
The language of belles-lettres.
The language of pubicistic literature.
The language of newspapers.
The language of scientific prose.
The language of official documents.
Functional styles are the product of the development of the written variety of language.
Each functional style may be characterized by a number of distinctive features, leading or
subordinate, constant or changing, obligatory or optional. Most of the functional stylistic
devices, however, perceived as independent wholes due to a peculiar combination and
interrelation of features common to all, especially when taking into account syntactical
arrangement with the leading ones of each functional styles. Each functional style is subdivided
into a number of subtypes. These represent varieties of the abstract invariants. Each variety has
basic features common to all the varieties of the given functional styles and peculiar features
typical of this variety alone. Still a substyle can, in some cases, deviate so far from the invariant
that in its extreme it may even break away.
English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical,
phraseological and grammatical means, which is perceived by the community speaking the
language as a separate unity that serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader.
Newspaper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized
as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms. English newspaper writing dates
from the 17th century. At the close of the 16th century short news pamphlets began to appear.
Any such publication either presented news from only one source or dealt with one specific
subject. Note the titles of some of the earliest news pamphlets: "Newe newes, containing a short
rehearsal of Stukely's and Morice's Rebellion", "Newes from Spain and Holland", "Wonderful
and strange newes out of Suffolke and Essex, where it rayned wheat, the space of six or seven
miles"
The function of brief news items, communiqués and reports is to inform the reader. They
state only facts without giving commentary. This accounts for the total absence of any
56
individuality of expression and the lack of emotional colouring. The vocabulary used here is
neutral and common literary. It is essentially matter-of-fact, and stereotypical forms of
expression prevail. But apart from this, a newspaper has its specific vocabulary that can be found
in its other features – editorials, articles, and advertisements.
During the research on the theme “Brief news items as a substyle of the newspaper style”
we came to a total conclusion. Without learning newspaper style, especially brief news items,
one can not understand the meaning and the aims of newspaper and can not express ideas
correctly and beautifully. The principal function of a brief news items is to inform the reader. It
states facts without giving explicit comments, and whatever evaluation there is in news
paragraphs is for the most part implicit and as a rule unemotional.
While investigating this theme, it inspired me as a student to know everything about
headlines, advertisements and announcements and brief news items in newspapers. The specific
conditions of newspaper publication, the restrictions of time and space, have left an indelible
mark on newspaper English. We hope this research work achieved to its purpose and its end.
And I believe that in future I will continue this theme on my next studies and research works.
Methodological recommendation on the theme “Brief news items as a substyle of the
newspaper style”
Teaching a foreign language means first and foremost the formation and development of
pupils’ habits and skills in hearing, speaking, reading and writing. We can not expect to develop
such habits and skills of our pupils effectively if we do not know and take into account the
psychology of habits and skills, the ways of forming them, the influence of formerly acquired
habits on the formation of new ones, and many other necessary factors that psychology can
supply us with.
Thus, if a teacher wants his pupils to speak English he must use all the opportunities he
has to make them hear and speak it. [10, 18]
Effective learning of a foreign language depends to a great extent on the pupils’ memory.
That is why a teacher must know how he can help his pupils to successfully memorize and retain
in memory the language material they learn.
Methods of foreign language teaching is most closely related to linguistics, since
linguistics deals with the problems which are paramount importance to Methods, with language
and thinking, grammar and vocabulary, the relationship between grammar and vocabulary, and
many others.
57
Methods of foreign language teaching like any other science, has definite ways of
investigating the problems which may arise. They are:
1. A critical study of the ways foreign languages were taught in our country and abroad;
2. A thorough study and summing up of the experience of the best foreign language
teachers in different types of schools;
3. Experimenting with the aim of confirming or refuting the working hypotheses that may
arise during investigation.
1. The aims of our teaching are practical, educational and cultural. The teaching of a
foreign language must first and foremost lead pupils to practical mastery of it. There are four
abilities to train: hearing, speaking, reading, writing with understanding as the main ingredient in
each. This indicates that the teacher’s chief concern should not be only over difficulties of
pronunciation, the growth of vocabulary or grammar, but over language abilities, that is, over
getting pupils’ language abilities into action. The learning of any new language can add to the
pupil’s mental equipment, sharpen his wits and develop his intelligence. Foreign language
teaching in schools should also contribute to the pupil’s general development.
2. The method is based upon a scientific approach to the determination of the content of
teaching. This implies careful selection of linguistic material, a clear idea of the desired result in
terms of the habits and skills that should be acquired by pupils; in other word, the exact
knowledge of what one expects to achieve at every stage of instruction.
3. The method is guided by the following principles:
a) Oral language is the principal means of teaching a foreign language to achieve any
objective the teacher sets;
b) The method is based on the following sequence of language activities: pupils
assimilate the material orally before they read and write it;
c) Active teaching techniques are widely used: visual, audio and audio-visual aids,
teaching materials for stimulating the pupil’s speech activities;
d) A special emphasis is laid on a definite sequence in forming language skills:
- getting information about a language unit;
- various drill exercises within the target language sufficient for fixing the material in
pupils’ memory and forming habits in using it;
- A large number of creative exercises for the pupils to participate actively in the process
of communication
e) The method strives for the constant increase of active time for each pupil to practice in
hearing, speaking, reading, and writing.
58
All this should find its reflection in a sequence of lessons as well as in each separate
lesson. It should also be applied to work after classes (extra-curricular work and optional
course).
Teaching a foreign language is hard work. But hard work will nearly always bring
success when a teacher does his best to make his pupils do the work. [23. 31]
Teachers should know how to interest pupils to their lessons, and they must use different
kinds of activities. In order to know a foreign language, pupils must know more words. To know
a language means to master its structure and words. If they learn words better, they can
communicate. Words are elements of the language used in the act of communication. While
learning some words, pupils can be interested in functional styles, especially newspaper style,
because they read newspaper n their daily life. For example, when they read newspapers they can
take a lot of important and interesting information and their knowledge may be increased. The
main function of newspaper is to get information. Newspapers help to wide the pupils’ outlook.
[24. 17]
They must know the substyles of newspaper, especially about brief news items. Brief
news items are essentially matter-of-fact, and stereotyped forms of expression prevail. Then
teacher can ask such kind of questions, when she or he marks pupils.
- When was the first newspaper published?
- What kinds of substyles of newspaper style do you know?
- What are the most important functions of brief news items do you know?
- What kind of newspapers do you read? Why do you read these newspapers?
- Is there any difference between reading books and newspapers?
We know that the bulk of the vocabulary used in newspaper writing is neutral and
common literary. But apart from this, newspaper style has its specific vocabulary features. Then
teacher can use some specific words, idioms, and stylistic devices, phraseological units for
developing pupils’ skills in finding these words and word combinations in newspapers.
In the end, for testing the usage of the words the teacher may administer such tests as find
the specific vocabulary features in newspapers, especially in brief news items.
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